The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Tire rot

Are you finding out that your tires rot before tread wears down?

I have about 19,000 miles on my tires purchased in 2010

6 year old tires with seperation betwen the treads, parked in the garage


Common?

6000 miles and 5 years. 1/4 inch crack in sidewall. Of course no warranty left. Rubber ain't what it used to be.

Brand and model tire info is needed for us to learn which tires to not buy. Jeffrey

it is a plot to get us down to one vehicle and no trailers! LOL. I have a flatbed trailer that gets a car put on it and pulled a couple times a year. The tread on the tires will probably never wear out. Same with my travel trailer! Better to be safe than sorry though. DANG, with 2 2-ton trucks, 2 tandem axle trailers, and 3 other cars, I am going to be tire poor!

I only noticed the rot because I picked up a nail

...pic....

Its an off brand I think, came with the wheels package. Primewelll

Goodyear T/A 6 ply 17 inch on a Dodge 1 ton dually.

Had a set of Hercules Hercumile 6.50x16 bias plys, bought in 1990 and had 'em on till 2013, over 20K miles (not including the drive to AK). Plenty of tread left, no cracks or rot, but got to where they'd hold the flat spot forever...after 10-15 miles even in summer they'd still jar your teeth out.

This is a common issue with RV's. They usually carry heavy loads and become dangerous as they get to the 6 year mark.

Don't get me started about the Chinese tires that are used on RV's.

I also learned about this recently when I was pointed to the cause of the death wobble I had in one of my old cars:
tires

Have ran a set of BFG Radial T/A's but not going to tell you how long. They are not weather cracked in any way but mainly due to being garaged 99% of its life. I'll have to admit, after rotating them a few times they are not rotten....there is just not much tread left on them. Shall we say "getting slick".
Yep, time for some new shoes.

My 2010 GMC only has 16,000 Km (10,000 miles). The tires look really good - no cracks - I will not be changing them because they are 6 years old! The tires are General "Grabber"

I bet that if I did buy new tires, the dealer would put my old ones on someone else's truck. They sell used tires all the time.

I will keep an eye on them and if cracks appear, they will be changed.

I have some Firestones over 6 years old (first 3 years sitting in a barn waiting to be installed by previous owner), and one of them is checkered with rot. I don't know why only one and not the others.

If they're 6 years old or older, they wont. It's actually illegal to sell a tire that's over 6 years old.

Is that state or federal law? Can you provide a link?

Federal. I don't have a link, but I do work in the tire industry, and have scrapped plenty of brand new tires that hit that 6 year old mark because it wasn't legal to sell them. There's even a specific procedure for it involving cutting tw0 1/2" diameter holes in the sidewall over the serial number to make the tires no longer serviceable. Same rules apply for used tires.

It would be interesting to see the federal law.

I was of the opinion that there was a federal law, but it looks like it was not enacted.

It looks like the age of the tire is required to be placed on all tires (but there might be some question regarding some truck tires). A specific format and location of the date is required. I can find no info for date-display requirements for larger trucks' tires.

That code/format was changed in 2015.

Many manufacturers define the "expiration date" as 6 years for a new-tire. They will not honor a warranty for any older new-tire installed by one of their dealers.

I would like to know if we have a similar law or if it's just a "buyer beware" warning.

I won't buy snow tires again if tires are time limited. No sense having two sets of tires. I will just buy all weather tires and leave them on all year!

Tiresafteygroup.come and tirerack.com are just two of the Web sites that came up when I punched in tires date codes. In Canada we have the same protocols regarding tires. I'd be repeating what longbox55 said. Tires are one thing that I do not compromise on any mo. They have to be safe to run,our lives and the lives of others are too important to risk at the expense of using old, used or new tires because one is to cheap to buy good guality new tires.

How do you know that? I could not find anything on Transport Canada's website. They do require a date on the tire but there is no mention of an expiry date.

I couldn't find anything on the NTSB site on tire expiration date either, but didn't spend a ton of time searching. But I did find this article that says "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has no specific guidelines on tire aging and defers to the recommendations of carmakers and tire manufacturers."

While not definitive, what little research I did seems to indicate that the laws governing the selling of used tires after six years vary state by state and aren't covered by a federal statute.

It would be interesting to see a state law.

From an NTSB 2014 Tire Safety Symposium (Dec 9-10 2014) "Tire Aging and Service Life":

States Consider Regulations
• Several states have considered bills to regulate tire
age
— Most related to customer notification of tire aging / tire age at
point of sale.
— One bill proposed tires 6 years or older could not pass annual
state safety inspections.
• None have advanced.

http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/Pages/2014_Tire_Safety_SYM_agenda.aspx
http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/Documents/2014_Tire_Safety_SYM_Panel_4b_Kane.pdf

Gord&Fran...there is no government legislation on tire expiirarion. However,there are numerous studies by the tire manufacturers on the composition of the rubber used to make tires. Those studies show the rubber starts to break down between 6-10 years. It is recommended that consumers consider replacing tires in that time frame. How do I know?..I have a friend who works in the tire industry who brought this issue my attention a couple years ago and reading a few articles on the Internet. One Canadian article is is by canadiansafteycounsel.org tire/safety. It also references a study in the US...a report to Congress on tire expiration.

The two factors to carefully consider with respect to tire-rubber life are heat/temperature and light.

If you park outside and the tires are regularly in the sun, you might want to carefully heed tire-life recommendations.

If your vehicle is garaged and you do not regularly drive it, tire life would be longer.

The tires on my pickup are closer to 10 years than six. It lives most of it's life in the garage but I think I'll check the tires for checking before I go on any more trips.

I got a flat this summer on my Chevy 4X4 and got a nasty surprise when I dropped the spare from under the truck. The birds had been perching on it in my driveway for a couple of years and their droppings had completely rotted the sidewall. I am not sure there is anything you can do about that other than put the bird feeders further away from the driveway!

Back in the early 1970's the volunteer fire dept had to replace the tires on my 1949 White Engine. I said the tires have a lot of tread left. I was told because the tires were 10 years old the law required them to be replaced. Jeffrey

Interesting discussion.

I expect to buy new tires next Spring. The seller will have to show me the manufacture date before the tires are mounted. Caveat emptor!

the Tire Safety Group [industry standard setter] says tires expire in 6 years. "regardless of whether a tire is on a vehicle or in a temperature-controlled room" .... details of stamped DOT date codes explained here, no need to take the sellers word for it

Bill

He should show you the date code on the tires he is selling.

if you study the explanation of the coding, you can find and interpret it yourself rather than accept any sellers bafflegab

Bill

I want to know if he knows what it is!

I might as well reorder the same tire

Didnt like them when they arrived, but they are quiet, give a nice ride. Not very expensive

Only got to rotate them once
Still have the wiskers on the sides

Also keep in mind that vehicles, rv's specifically from my research for a Holiday Rambler 5th wheel we had, can develop "flat spots" that can, and do, cause tread and belt separation when on the road. The forum RV.Net is full of horror stories about tires that have destroyed rv's because of this. The information I've gleaned is to role the vehicle forward(or backward) a quarter turn every 3 months to keep this from happening, or better yet, get it up on blocks or stands to keep the full pressure of the unit weight off the tires. Also, I've read many other bad reviews on the Chinese tires that are being dumped (and killing the U.S. tire industry), because if there is any quality control at all in those plants, it's minimal.

Per the tire rotting question of this post, the tires on my '51, which had about 1000 miles on them when I bought it 3 years ago (about 12k now, I think), are showing small cracks in the sidewalls the look like dry rot, even though I use Aerospace 303 on them a couple of times a year. I've always heard (after using it for years as a kid) that Armor-All actually contains petrochemical base ingredients that will speed up the aging of rubber and vinyl, even though it makes it look new and shiny. Sort of like the way Formula 409 cleans well, but attracts dirt too.

Showme is right on about rolling the vehicle regularly. Everyone may not experience it but on my panel I had a chance to buy a set of rims and tires at a very good buy. I had them on the chassis from the time I put the engine/tranny on before finishing the resto. Well, by the time I got the panel on the road the tires were truly "flatsided". I was a little surprised a there had not been much weight on the tires during the build.
Yep, had to put a new set on it.
Now days, winter time included, I fire them up and drive them at least once a month even though its just enough to get the engine up to temp and the tires good and hot.

...in an earlier post I said I would not tell on myself but the tires on my 37 have been on it for 16 years...yep, you read that right. My daughter worked at Michelin and it was my Christmas gift back in 2000.
BFG Radial T/A's and are not weather cracked one bit. It has always been garaged except for just a few collective months and I have used Mequaires tire stuff sparingly over the years. The tires still run smooth, even at over a 100mph, but since they're getting a little slick my nephew is going to get me another set from Michelin just like them. (at his discount)...and no, no more 100 mph runs till I get them on it!!