How safe is an old tyre.

[ratast]

Dunlop HD been stored in shed past 6 years. Does the rubber continue to cure getting harder and harder or just sit there . Will this make tyre unsafe to use.

[darkwolf]

Aside from the fact that the rubber is likely to have aged, the storage of the tyre may have affected the structure of the tyre.

You want to check the tyre over for any cracks or signs of degradation - inside the tyre too. Personally, I wouldn't trust my bike or ass on a 6 year old tyre. If it fails it could be extremely serious. Have you checked the price of a new tyre? It might not be worth taking the risk

[Gremlin]

Generally the tyre gets harder and the rubber begins to break down over years. Personally, I wouldn't use a 6 year old tyre no matter how it was stored.

It depends on the shed, but usually they warm up and cool down, which will certainly affect the tyre. Equally, concrete is also bad for rubber, as it sucks the moisture out of the tyre. Simple test would be to dig your fingernail into it, and see how the tyre reacts. Then do it to a fresh tyre, and you should see a difference. The size of the difference would also indicate how much the tyre has changed.

Then again, I'm lucky to ever have a tyre for 6 months... let alone years :laugh:

[Flip]

I know I have read some thing years ago about the shelf life of tyres.

They do harden with age, the smaller volatile organic molecules evaporate. Sounds like 6 years is the shelf life. Can you find the manuifacture date? It should looklike a 3 or 4 digit number near the rim, 123 means 12th week of 1993 and 2303 means 23rd week of 2003.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgSk5xWkrI&feature=player_embedded#!