I knew two of my tires were getting old. I did not bother to look at the date code but I know they are over 10 years. They maybe have 10,000 miles on them. I bought 2 new ones about 5 years ago. Turns out they were 3 years old then so that makes them 8 years old. Tread looked new on all of em. Always stored inside so no sun rot. Just last week I was debating about replacing the 2 old ones or maybe all 4. Was leaning towards not doing anything this season since its almost over anyway and why have the tires get a 6 months older without getting any use out of em.
Nice fall weekend and Friday off so took out the Caddy. Thought tires looked low so I actually checked the pressure before I left. Entering the roundabout a few blocks from home and about 1/2 way around suddenly had to do some serious over steering to keep from crashing into the other cars around me. Got onto my street and this is what I found on the front.
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The sidewall had a bunch of what looked like small tears all the way around on the inside. One was torn all the way through so I figure that was where the air suddenly went. There was damage from going flat too but in a different area than those little tears.
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This was the what I thought were 5 year old tires. Figured oh well stuff happens and went to a local store just before closing that had only 3 new tires in stock so I just had them replace the one and I would then run to a sister store the next day and get the 4th tire to make a set. Before I did that I spent some time with the car looking at things just to make sure there was not a bad bearing or other suspension issue causing the problem. All looked good. I had a mini spare in the car and an ancient full size at a storage place on the other side of town near the sister store that had the last tire so I figured I would just hop in the Eldo for a nice Sunday drive to get the new tire and my old spare and I would then keep the 8 year old one for a full size spare. About 10 miles from the tire shop was going through some nice one lane construction on the interstate between those barrier walls and where there was no shoulder and thought it felt funny. Just as I got out of the construction zone I saw chunks of rubber flying out. This was the rear this time.
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It looked like that all the way around on the inside. The outside had a few areas where it looked like the tread was coming off.
I have driven a lot of crap with much older and worse tires and this and never had anything like this happen before. Now its happened twice. When the back one went today I had the brand new one left front, next newest right front, and the matched pair on the back. The new one is a Cooper/ Mastercraft. Front was a Regatta2. Backs were Regatta. So far the Mastercrafts feel good but have only driven from the shop to home so its a little early to tell. They have the same modern fairly narrow whitewall that the Regattas had. The were I think $90 each. I think I paid around $130 for those Regattas several years ago.
I have over 20 cars in my collection. Since I try to bring a different car to the National PCS show every year, I nearly always find myself buying a set of tires before I leave. Modern radial tires cannot be trusted at highway speeds after they are seven years old.
Amazing TJ.
Bought my car and tires looked new. We drove her from Pittsburgh to Savannah. When we got close to home I noticed long pieces of rubber coming off. Before anything came up ordered new set with a new spare.
Never knew rads had about a 7 year life. What about Bias ply life?
Still filling my mind with useful trivia from this site.
Mike
Shop told me once that new tires do not last as long as old ones. They test emissions the car gives off in a bubble. Basically put the car in a room or bubble, and check what sort of chemicals are given off.
Plastics, vinyl, paint leaching chemicals into the air. So whatever they are doing, tires are better for the environment, but not for your wallet.
TJ -- I had a similar experience some years ago with a set of Dunlop tires
on my '73 Eldo. They looked great but were about 15 years old. On a
round trip of about 125 miles of interstate driving we arrived OK. However
on the way back, I started to hear a "thumping / bumping" noise from
the front end.
Fortunately, we were only about 5 miles from the house when the noise
became progresively worse and I took it slow and made it to the driveway.
There were no easily noticable signs of a problem, but when running my
hand over the driver's side front tire I felt an "egg" in the tire sidewall.
It was an internal cord separation, which is a common failure in a tire
past it's prime. We were lucky.
I replaced all four tires with a set of Firestone radials with the correct
whitewall width and they have less than 300 miles on them after about
10 years.
I hate to think about it, but I realize they are past their prime being over
10 years old. I'll have to look for a replacement soon. However, the 235
series radials are hard to come by now, espeically in a 1/2 inch white
wall width as that car requires.
Mike
TJ, what is a roundabout? Dave
Dave, a roundabout is a traffic circle in which several roads connect to. Drive around the circle to your road.
Mike
This sort of brings to mind an ad I saw on Ebay for some NOS duel white wall tires. These have to be very old, and the guy only wants $2500.00 for them...................ha
I changed out the tires on my 78 , about a year after I bought it. They didnt have many miles on them either, but they were 10 years old, at least.
Roy
Quote from: Dave Ventresca on October 01, 2012, 01:53:31 AM
TJ, what is a roundabout? Dave
One of those circular road junctions which engineers construct on the cheap so that vehicles can travel onto different intersecting roads without having to come to a complete stop to give way to vehicles approaching from the side.
But, here they stick traffic lights to slow the traffic down even more than normal.
We have Roundabouts here because the Greenies don't want "unsightly" overpasses, and the Government is too poor to fund overpasses.
Bruce. >:D
We're getting the bloddy things here all over too.
Just a question, where were these tire made?
Mike
TJ ...How soon we forget ! It's been about three years since I took my '68 Eldorado on its last thousand mile, or longer, driving tour with the West Michigan Cadillac Gang , and your message reminded me that my tires only have about 20,000 miles on them, but they're 15 years old !
I realize I'm on borrowed time and need a quick change . How about some tire recommendations for a car that sees grocery store action between bi-annual thousand mile road trips ? bb
I figured that my situation was very similar to many others here in that we have low mileage tires that look great but are in that 7 year or older range that seems to be the safe limit for tires made in the last 10-15 years. And like everyone else I have driven much older stuff much harder with no issues so I was very surprised to have the issue with the first (newer) tire and then almost stunned when it happened again the next day.
My cars are drivers so as long as I can get some sort of white wall I am happy. Especially since I now know they will rot out well before they wear out I just cant see paying extra for a high mileage or custom white wall. I drove 150 miles yesterday on the new tires and have no complaints. They are smoother than the good years ever were. I think they may be slightly noisier but I am not sure about that.
Mastercraft is a Cooper brand. They are sold by a lot of smaller parts stores and shops. You don't see them much in the big cities but if you go more rural they are common. I have also noticed if you go to these smaller places for tires they really seem to appreciate the business and seem to go out of their way to make you happy. That is something you cant say for most of the big tire stores.
http://www.mastercrafttires.com/html/products/tires_passenger.aspx?page=mastercraft_tires_passenger_AS_IV
Here is a clip from ABC 20/20 a few years ago on old tires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgSk5xWkrI
Drove another 100 some miles yesterday to get them re balanced with the proper weights so I can put the hubcaps back on and I'm still happy. Its running so smooth now that I am thinking about all the other stuff it needs.
Been showing those photos to people and everyone seems stumped. One guy swears that something hit and tore the sidewall. His co worker said what I was thinking, even if that happened how did the outer edge fail all the way around sort of like a re cap? On both tires the side wall issue was on the inside and there were multiple places with the same type of damage so I really don't see that it was something off the road because that would have only damaged a spot or two before getting kicked out. If it was part of the suspension causing the problem like a broken spring I could maybe see that but it would be obvious looking at the car if that was the case.
I now cringe and grip the steering wheel with both hands every time I come up on a curve. Drove my new car to the store last night and got part way around the round about and swore I must have blown out a tire. It was fine.
Could the inside sidewall damage have occurred in a car wash or something similar that has rails to guide the tires?
As has been stated before, modern tire manufacturers take no responsibility for any tire that is over six years old. It is generally printed very clearly in the warranty guide that you receive from the manufacturer.(Modern Radial Tires) That said, you can drive on them as long as you feel comfortable but best case scenario is just a flat or blown tire, worst case is a loose tread that does $$$$ of damage to your fender before you can come to a stop. Driving on a showfield is no problem but driving at speed, especially in hot weather, could be a major mistake. - Greg
I don't think its been through a car wash since I have owned it the last 20 years but that is a good thought.
Quote from: Bruce Berghoff -#1476 on October 01, 2012, 09:16:58 AM
TJ ...How soon we forget ! It's been about three years since I took my '68 Eldorado on its last thousand mile, or longer, driving tour with the West Michigan Cadillac Gang , and your message reminded me that my tires only have about 20,000 miles on them, but they're 15 years old !
I realize I'm on borrowed time and need a quick change . How about some tire recommendations for a car that sees grocery store action between bi-annual thousand mile road trips ? bb
sounds like you guys need to drive your car more to wear out the tires before they fall apart from age ;D
One of the biggest killers of tyres is not driving the cars, and when driving the cars, getting up to 75 or 80 miles per hour for hours on end, and starting the trip without checking the pressures when cold.
Like the rest of us, tyres like to warm up, and cool down, and not be subjected to constant high temperatures from high speed.
The tyres on my Eldo were good, almost like new when I purchased the car in 2007, but had to replace one after driving from Detroit to Cherry Hill, then around Connecticut when the steel belt suddenly decided to separate, so I replaced both fronts, and kept the one good one I removed as a second spare. This separation could be felt during the last 2 miles driving to where we were staying in Connecticut. On the jack, the tyre "Wobble" could be clearly seen.
The remaining two have traveled a further 15,000 miles, and still look like new (they are on the back) and should last another 30,000 miles. These were manufactured in the 43rd week of 1997, so between the time the previous owner put the tyres on, and when I purchased it, the car couldn't have been used very much.
High road speed isn't a problem down here as the speed limit on the open roads is 110 Kph (65 Mph) and trying to sustain those speeds for hours at a time is impossible, especially here in Tasmania.
Bruce. >:D
I have driven the car about 150 miles per day since Sunday so I am trying to put some miles on. The $90 per tank is a little painful. Temps dropped about 30* today and the car just is not fun to drive with the top up so it may just about be over for the season.
The back tire went while doing about 65mph. Was no big deal. Most of the tread was still attached so no damage to the car. Front was dong a sharp curve at maybe 15mph that was interesting but I did not feel like I was about to loose control (in other words I did not have to change my shorts). I'm sure I am not as good as a professional driver that has been trained but I usually try to push cars to the traction limits when there is a safe place to test them so I get an idea how they respond.
I have had plenty of trouble with tires, my rule is change at 6 years. However my
highest mileage car goes through them faster. So I take those tires & rims off before
completely worn out, put them on the less used car, take THOSE wheels in to get
new tires. This keeps fairly new tires on the other car, without buying new and
then throwing away with few miles.
I learned long ago, never to let a tire shop mess with my car; they just see the
wheels I bring them. Bruce Roe
After the local tire shop dented the fender on my 68 ELDO they do not see it any more, just the wheels.
They used to be very good and only did tires, now they do everything and a trip to the tire shop can get you a list of things “wrong†with your car. This is especially true if you are a woman. The wife returned from the shop with a note the CV joint boots are torn and need to be replaced. My inspection found no tears in the boots.
<rant mode off>
Ya I know what you guys are saying. I never go to chain stores if I can help it. I did have a local shop that I was starting to trust but last time I brought them something they did not impress me. If I could find a shop I liked they would likely end up with a lot of my money because I jut dont have time to deal with a lot of this stuff anymore. I think I would be a good customer since I have several cars that are all older and I generally just do what ever needs to be done. Since I cant find anyone I just end up doing it myself.
I learned to fix my cars by repairing the "repairs" the shops did. Eventually
I just learned to do it all in pure self defense. Joan noticed a brake problem
on her Honda, and the dealer came up with a $1500 estimate before I heard
about it. I got it on the lift, the front calipers were jammed instead of floating.
I freed them up, eventually replaced the pads, end of problem other than a
couple very upset people here. Bruce
I own a 41 Cadillac 60 Special; it has 11,000 miles on a set of bias tires from Corker Tire back in 1997. It is a 100 point award winning car from the AACA, CLC, and CCA. I have the car examined and maintained/serviced every year; the car is kept in a climate controlled environment and driven infrequently (about 300 miles a year only in town). My question is this: my mechanics tell me the tires remain in excellent condition; I have them aligned yearly. The tires have no visable wear. I am told by friends in the collective hobby that any tire over ten years should be replaced. Is this true, and what is the advice from our members. Basically, this has been a show car and judging car for most of its life after restoration.
Sincerely,
Bill Podany
Knoxville, TN
" I am told by friends in the collective hobby that any tire over ten years should be replaced. Is this true, and what is the advice from our members. Basically, this has been a show car and judging car for most of its life after restoration."
It all depends on your Risk Tolerance and Budget. A 10 year life limit is sound advise from a safety standpoint. The compound in your tires change as a function of time, use and storage conditions may mitigate this somewhat, but since ALL conditions (such as compound, manufacturing process etc. etc.) can never be 'known', a life limit can be used to mitigate the uncertainty.
Sheesh! Thank you US government idiots..... and I'm sure the tire companies love the fact that tires only last 8 years..... when I was a kid, I bought a 1927 Model T Ford and all the tires were thread bare and I drove it home..... I can't believe we as free citizens are willing to put up with this nonsense.
Whit
PS Thanks for saving me the from climate change (formerly knows as global warming, but since they cheated on the numbers we changed the name to "climate change)."