The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Used Tires - fair price?

What is a fair price for 4 used 16 inch Firestone bias ply tires for my 1946 1/2 ton truck? I found a set but they are $400. Seems high to me, but I don't know much about used tire prices. Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,
Bobby

Have you checked the date code on the tires? http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

That is a good price if they are mounted on original rims. For just the tires, it isn't a good deal for you IMHO.

I bought 4 new Firestone bias-ply a few years back for $600 delivered to me in Canada. If the tires you are looking at are old original ones you won't be too happy I don't think. The new ones are made from a different compound and I am happy with mine.
On tires. I just bought 4 "noname" tires for my Malibu at $561 installed, balanced and new valves plus taxes and more taxes. Don't know how good they will be but my others lasted 10 years and the sidewalls went.

What is your life worth? Use that as a guide.I would not pay a lot for used bias ply tires after riding on radials. Just my opinion.
Jerry

You will have to get them mounted and balanced and no guarantee or known actual condition. BRAND new in NC at Discount Tire, BFGoodrich size 235/75R16 (about 30" tall) Out the door with all confidence, balanced, new valve stems, lifetime rotation. $528. (sometimes you can actually get a little better price by asking)
A no brainer. You may not get your used ones on, balanced and stems for less. I have bought every tire there for about 40 years. Buy used/internet/guy with short cigar and see what trouble you have if something goes wrong! For $62 more...lifetime repair or replacement anytime, anywhere, any kind of tire damage or flat.

only "fair" price for used bias tires would be the seller paying you to take them off his hands

Bill

Radials expire sooner than bias ply tires, even though date code OK, hidden breaks on radials can soon develop into lumps, etc. I say save your $ and get good, new tires, the risk is too great.

A two or three year old tire with good tread would be OK around town at under 45 MPH or for rollers. But not for $400. and not if older. Keep shopping.

Thanks everyone,
This was a huge help. I am going to keep my money and shop around for some new ones. Thanks again!

I've never heard that before. Can't see any possible reason it would make any difference what the tire ply construction was if the rubber compound is the same. As far as longevity, a radial tire will outlast a bias ply by at least a 10:1 margin, the technology is far superior in a radial tire.

I have run nothing but radials on my trucks for almost 30 years. I always said I had over 200 tires on the ground at all times However, number is less now because just about all of my bulk fleet is on 445x50x22.5 which saves about 900 lbs per rig. However, I make sure no carcases are over 4 years old because radials will begin blowing out at around 4 years. And that includes tires on storage trailers. They blow out just sitting there and do a lot of damage. For my old vehicles that I don't drive much, I prefer bias tires. I have some 30 year old tires on my old vehicles and don't worry about them. I recently bought a set of 7.00x18 tires that were 25 years old for $100 for all 6 tires, tubes and flaps. And I was glad to get them.
$100 each for used 16" tires is outlandish, but on a vehicle that I don't drive much, I prefer bias. They just don't blow out from sitting around like radials do. On the other hand, the speed limit on IH10 here is 80 and I run nothing but Michelin radials on my trucks as well as daily driver pickups.

EXACTLY what Ken said,
Radials of any make and any size will blow out for no good reason at any time,after 3 yrs.
Have had it happen to me on a drive tire on my 96 Mack.
Blew the stainless steel 1/2 fender right off the truck and mangled both brackets into twisted junk,and the truck was PARKED.
First time,I was re cabbing my 76 4x4 chevy that I bought new,
Had the nose and cab off,with a week lay over,in the hot sun,its sitting in the driveway,in front off the garage door,went in to get the new cab mounts/bolts and heard a very low hiss,pop sort of a very slow unzipping sound.
Walking back out I watched the left front tire literally unzip like a suitcase and explode right in front of Me.
Ducked just in time as a piece of tread flew past and took the down spout and 3 shingles off the corner off the garage.
That one will give You Religion REAL Quick,if not a bowel movement.
steve sr.

That's simply not true. There had to be some sort of casing damage, possibly combined with improper inflation, or perhaps a poorly done retread for that to happen. A sound casing will not "blow out" without a reason, regardless of construction. The issues with tire age, which apply to both radial and bias construction, have more to do with the age of the rubber itself. Even then, a properly maintained tire can go much farther than the 4 years that the RMA suggests.

Believe it...My buddy put 4 new radials on his boat trailer 4 or 5 yrs ago, it hasn't been in the water for years, when he went to move it recently 3 of the 4 tires had exploded, while parked inside his shop. These tires have never been on the road, except 7 miles straight home from the tire store.

There's so much more to consider than just age. Quality of the tire manufacturer to begin with is huge, then how they have been used, mileage, weight while sitting, sitting in direct sunlight, temperature extremes, etc.

I've got BFG radials on my hot rod Model A that were installed December of 1997 (17 years old) that have less than 5,000 miles on them, have been inside my garage out of direct sunlight except when I'm driving it and they have had tire dressing put on them numerous times. I drove it just the other day and they are fine...

in the 22 years I've worked in the tire business, I've never seen a tire simply blow out like that without some sort of casing damage, usually a run flat/underinflation issue. Sometimes, you will find defective casings, especially with some of the imported stuff. There was a problem with imported trailer tires doing just that. But to generalize that radials will fail after 4 years without some sort of casing damage simply is not true.

"But to generalize that radials will fail after 4 years without some sort of casing damage simply is not true." I am not saying that they all will fail, but I have had Michelin, Goodyear and Bridgestone, and Continental to blow out on storage trailers. These are not cheap imports. We can usually tell when they are about to blow out because the tire starts growing which indicates that the belts are separating from the bead. We try to deflate them before they blow. I have about a dozen storage trailers, and I wish I could find bias tires to put on them. Some might blow in 4 years, some 14 years. I doubt that you would observe this in a tire shop. I have about 30 trailers listed on my insurance policy and have about a dozen storage trailers.