Warning over old tyres

[quickbuck]

It was good that they showed the number code so we can check if in doubt.

That it was....
I checked out the ute.
The El cheapo Enduro GR2000's i put on the front must have been stamped out of the mold only a few months before I got them... Yay.

Conversely the Yokohama's on the back were half worn when I bought the ute 5 years ago.... So I guess they are total Plastic (Can you say Shinko?).
Good thing my dad taught me how to drift well before he would let me get my licence (which I obtained my full at 15 1/2). Any case, the L200 has nil power anyway........

All that aside, if i can get a bike tyre to last more than 12 months, then it means I have been slack! Very Slack.... Now just to keep an eye out on what is being sold to me next.

[crazyhorse]

A set of tyres don't last me long enough to worry about it - but its good info to be aware of.

Learn something new every day

[koba]

My A100 looked to have original tyres on it.
First rego'd 1983 I think.
It really wasn't a problem for such a bike, It wasn't capable of pushing them hard enough.
I think aslong as there are no cracks or other obvious signs of deteriation they should be all good.

Worrying about tyres that have had a few heat cycles on a racebike or that have been stored for 5 years is a bit over the top!

Treaded tyres off a racebike aren't totally fucked, on the track you are after every little bit of grip so a tiny percentage loss matters whereas on the road it will make fuck all difference. I know some people think they ride hard on the road but compared to racing on a track they don't. (or they are dead)

I raced at Wangas on Sportdeamons, the front is old, has been on the bike for over a years worth of heat cycles, has lived outside in the sun and is worn but still legal. No catastophic problems there...

[warewolf]

Well, actually... The last comment might be a bit misleading.... The Race Rubber you speak of would be Slicks. As for the Ex-Race Tyres you fit to your road bike, they would be treaded DOT (or Equivilent Tyres).
Chances are the Treaded tyres have only been used half a dozen times too, which is VERY less than the heat cycles the average rider would put through the tyres on his bike.

Err... no, no, yes, true and true.

Street riders don't fit used race slicks and ride around on the street, I'm not talking about them. The problem is street riders using second-hand street-legal (or "treaded DOT" in your terms) race rubber for more than the half-a-dozen cycles those are designed to work, as you say for A LOT more cycles. They might still be "okay" especially in the short term, but they will deteriorate much more rapidly than a tyre designed for street use.

This information has appeared time and again in tyre articles in magazines; wish I had an example to present.

[quickbuck]

Err... no, no, yes, true and true.

Street riders don't fit used race slicks and ride around on the street, I'm not talking about them. The problem is street riders using second-hand street-legal (or "treaded DOT" in your terms) race rubber for more than the half-a-dozen cycles those are designed to work, as you say for A LOT more cycles. They might still be "okay" especially in the short term, but they will deteriorate much more rapidly than a tyre designed for street use.

This information has appeared time and again in tyre articles in magazines; wish I had an example to present.

Okay, I see your point.... And what koba has just said adds to it.
Fair enough, in a race you are using the tyre MUCH more than you ever would on the road...... So, even after half a dozen heat cycles, you are right, a lot more than 6 rides worth would be used in the tyre.

Thing is though, I get the most milage out of my tyres if I have managed to take them to the track half way through their life.
Then they aren't the stickiest things out.. Metzeler Sportecs (as opposed to Racetecs).

[p.dath]

I think this is quite a good thread because of the serious warning about tyres that few people are aware of. Could I encourage a few more people to rate the thread, so it stands out. Just click on "Rate this thread" at the top.

[quickbuck]

I think this is quite a good thread because of the serious warning about tyres that few people are aware of. Could I encourage a few more people to rate the thread, so it stands out. Just click on "Rate this thread" at the top.

Yeah... Done.

[FROSTY:Me]

Sorry guysi really don't get this. Except in exceptional situations a tyre will behave in a predictable way if its a couple of years old. It isn't suddenly gonna go--"ohh im 5 years old now im gonna stop gripping"
Riding to the conditions means ALL the conditions including tyre stickyness.

I get the bit about a tyre on an A100 or maybee a tyre on a bike thats been in storage for a number f years. But otherwise to me ts an addition to the list of excuses a rider can make for not being aware of everything thats going on around them.
Even race tyres that go "off" dont just flick a switch and do so. they deteriorate at a reasonably predictable rate.

[p.dath]

Sorry guysi really don't get this. Except in exceptional situations a tyre will behave in a predictable way if its a couple of years old. It isn't suddenly gonna go--"ohh im 5 years old now im gonna stop gripping"

This is nothing to do with the tyre grip. It's to do with the glue that holds the tread onto the tyre. That glue starts breaking down after 6 years, and becomes weaker and weaker. The problem that has been happening is the tread has been coming off the tyres (as in, the entire tread, completely - we are not talking about tread wear here).

[hayd3n]

I've heard about tyres "drying out"/"hardening up" over time etc, but other than the year what are signs to look for.

I had an off about a month ago, in the dry, at night, going straight through a roundabout (on an 80k stretch of road), so if there was any lean involved it was minimal, I wasn't pushing hard.

For the last month I've been going over in my head just W.T.F happened. I've had plenty of offs in my life, and always been able to point and say "yep, that there was the problem", but this one...

Aside from the possibility of hitting some diesel or something (it's a busy 2 lane road, I wasn't going to saunter out into the middle to have a close look), well, I can't figure it and the best I can think is that the tyres on the bike (on it when I got it, about a month prior), although they have good tread and the manufacture date is 2005 I think, may well be poked and that there could have been the tiniest bit of something on the road which they just couldn't handle and it all went to hell in a flash.

Maybe I should just bite the bullet and replace them, even if it's just psychological (and I stash the old ones to put back on).

fuct tyres

[MSTRS:Me]

This is nothing to do with the tyre grip. It's to do with the glue that holds the tread onto the tyre. That glue starts breaking down after 6 years, and becomes weaker and weaker. The problem that has been happening is the tread has been coming off the tyres (as in, the entire tread, completely - we are not talking about tread wear here).

Um...some may be talking that problem (ie in the first post) but the rest are more on the lines of the properties of the rubber deteriorating, leaving reduced grip. Not the actual tread itself.

[FROSTY:Me]

How many bike tyres have you seen that have fallen apart like that? I can honestly say in 30 years of riding I've encountered it 5 times and I must say in three of those cases the damage was caused not by age/number of heat cycles but because the bike the tyre was fitted to had had a fairly decent crash -severe enough to fold the front end.So clearly the tyre took a lot more of a bang than in normal use.
Twice Ive noticed a very mild thump from a tyre of older vintage.(1980's bike with factory rubber fitted) That has been the tyre delaminating.
I'd like to suggest that an incorrectly inflated tyre is a bigger risk




hey don't getme wrong i aint saying don't keep an eye on the tyres What I am saying is that a 6 year old tyre is not such an issue as this thread suggests

[The Everlasting]

Thanks to this thread,got me a pair of Dunlop GPR-A10's,they are super sticky,and grip very good,I feel much safer going round corners,and can go through them faster,without worrying if the back will give out.

[koba]

hey don't getme wrong i aint saying don't keep an eye on the tyres What I am saying is that a 6 year old tyre is not such an issue as this thread suggests

Agreed!

[cs363]

This is nothing to do with the tyre grip. It's to do with the glue that holds the tread onto the tyre. That glue starts breaking down after 6 years, and becomes weaker and weaker. The problem that has been happening is the tread has been coming off the tyres (as in, the entire tread, completely - we are not talking about tread wear here).

Umm...the tread isn't glued to the tyre, at least not a new tyre - all of the tyres components are placed together in a mould and the whole assembly is heat cured under pressure, causing the components to bond together. The only tyres I'm aware of that could be termed to have the tread glued to the carcass would be retreads, but even then it's not actually glue. Most modern retreads are in fact more properly called remoulded tyres as they go through essentially the same process as that of making a new tyre.

Whilst there has been recent publicity about tyres delaminating (think Ford Explorers in the US) this was down to a combination of problems rather than age. Frosty is right on the money - Talk to any knowledgeable person in the tyre industry and they'll tell you that by far the largest percentage of tyre failures are caused by improper inflation followed by abuse of the tyre or incorrect fitment for the vehicle, damage by rough tyre fitters and so on. Tyres that are properly inflated and regularly inspected for cuts, nails and so on almost never fail.

Old tyres on the other hand and especially in New Zealand suffer from ozone degradation amongst other things, most manufacturers quote 6-10 years as the life of a tyre regardless of tread condition, but this varies immensely depending on how and where the tyres are stored (whether on or off the vehicle) as well as usage and maintenance. As I understand it the main issue is the tread rubber going off as the natural oils bleed out making the rubber hard and less 'grippy'. Obviously a tyre that is old enough and hard enough will delaminate eventually, though this is more commonly seen as bits of tread coming off in chunks rather than a whole tread peeling off as you sometimes see with retreaded truck tyres.

The main thing is that this thread is educational for those that may not have been aware of the meanings of the markings on the sidewall and a timely reminder to include the condition of your tyres in your maintenance schedule as well as finding out the correct tyre pressures for your particular model and riding style and keeping the tyres properly inflated at all times. I should also add that keeping your wheels balanced will also improve tyre life as well as improving your comfort and safety.

And as tyres play a big part in the psyche of riding, if you're not happy with them - change them! At the end of the day they're the only thing between you and the road, so you want to be comfortable about what you're riding on!
Luckily I don't think any of my vehicles will ever be idle enough to get tyres older than the manufacturers recommendation, particularly the bikes!

* Whilst both parties in the Ford Explorer/Firestone debacle continued to blame each other with neither accepting responsibility, general consensus within the motor trade seems to point to the issue being caused by a combination of the tyres fitted being of too light a specification for the vehicle and Ford quoting too low tyre pressures for continuous high speed operation.