20/20 Story about old tires - IMPORTANT!

oz · Jul 25, 2008

Greetings,
I just saw a post about this on the Mercury Marauder website and thought it would be important info for this forum. I don't know about anyone else but the tires on my '69 are no less than 17 years old now. From the story on 20/20, tires should not be used if they are over 6 years old. I, for one, think I will be looking into new tires this winter.

ABC News

ron67fb · Jul 25, 2008

I'm not downplaying the dangers of old tires, but this typical TV garbage is just stupid. Notice there are no official statements from anyone testing old tires to prove that they're dangerous. How many proven tire failures on properly maintained tires that caused death involved tires over 6 years old? Oh, sorry, we don't have those numbers. All you hear from are the complainers, their elite undercover teams and hidden cameras, and pictures of twisted metal, car seats, and toddler shoes that are sure to grab your heart and then your wallet thanks to watching their commercials in between their fear mongering shows. The rubber guy says there is no scientific evidence on this, so does 20/20 show him the evidence? No, just quote the guy out of context, tell him "The British said so" and make him look like a dolt through selective editing. Date codes only on the "hidden" side of tires? Really, on a non-directional truck tire, what is the "hidden" side? Did that dumbass even look at the other 3 tires? Tire treads on the side of the road? No mention of recapped big rig tires which is where most of those come from, of course. Even the close-up showed an obvious truck trailer tread.

I bet everyone that died through those accidents had bread that week. Bread is the real killer! Statistical irrelevance for the win!

dharrelson · Jul 25, 2008

Remember, these are the same people who brought you the exploding gas tanks on G.M. pick-ups. They were caught rigging the tanks with fuses to show how dangerous they were. Now it's tires. I suppose the tire execs. hide the dates on purpose to keep us from buying new tires. crapola

ForceFed70 · Jul 25, 2008

ron67fb said:
I'm not downplaying the dangers of old tires, but this typical TV garbage is just stupid. Notice there are no official statements from anyone testing old tires to prove that they're dangerous. How many proven tire failures on properly maintained tires that caused death involved tires over 6 years old? Oh, sorry, we don't have those numbers. All you hear from are the complainers, their elite undercover teams and hidden cameras, and pictures of twisted metal, car seats, and toddler shoes that are sure to grab your heart and then your wallet thanks to watching their commercials in between their fear mongering shows. The rubber guy says there is no scientific evidence on this, so does 20/20 show him the evidence? No, just quote the guy out of context, tell him "The British said so" and make him look like a dolt through selective editing. Date codes only on the "hidden" side of tires? Really, on a non-directional truck tire, what is the "hidden" side? Did that dumbass even look at the other 3 tires? Tire treads on the side of the road? No mention of recapped big rig tires which is where most of those come from, of course. Even the close-up showed an obvious truck trailer tread.

I bet everyone that died through those accidents had bread that week. Bread is the real killer! Statistical irrelevance for the win!

Agreed. 100% And nicely said BTW.

Yes, old tires can be a concern.. but a visual inspection is all that is required. Check for the rubber cracking.

There's so much more to consider than the age. Things like UV exposure, proper inflation/storage, etc.... There are all sorts of things that are checked at a safety inspection.. including the condition of the tires. But only the condition is checked, not the age... and it's for this reason.

jlangholzj · Jul 25, 2008

ron67fb said:
I bet everyone that died through those accidents had bread that week. Bread is the real killer! Statistical irrelevance for the win!

and dihydrogen monoxide is really gettin out of control, we need to do something about this now! look at all of the evidence:

Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division - dihydrogen monoxide info

woodsnake · Jul 26, 2008

That bread **** was FUNNY!!

ron67fb · Jul 26, 2008

dharrelson said:
Remember, these are the same people who brought you the exploding gas tanks on G.M. pick-ups. They were caught rigging the tanks with fuses to show how dangerous they were.

They were model rocket engines, you could see the smoke plumes before the collision actually happened, IIRC. This BS has been going on since the 70s but people still fall for this crap.
It didn't start with Dateline NBC - fraudulent investigative TV documentaries about automobile safety - Special Section: The Decline of American Journalism | National Review | Find Articles at BNET

TOM B · Jul 26, 2008

Where is AL GORE

jlangholzj · Jul 26, 2008

lol, btw, does anybody know what dihydrogen monoxide is????

BarnStang · Jul 26, 2008

Isnt that the same as two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom? WHat could that equate to?

jlangholzj · Jul 26, 2008

BarnStang said:
Isnt that the same as two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom? WHat could that equate to?

just checkin

bnickel · Jul 27, 2008

i can tell you from experience that old tires can blow out just sitting there. it happened to me with a very old pair of BFG T/A's. granted they were at least 15 years old and probably had serious flat spots from sitting for the last 10 years and of course serious UV exposure but they both blew out just sitting in my driveway within a few days of each other. they were also both worn down on the inside edges almost to the cords so that probably played a role as well. inflation was ok though and if anything they were probably a little underinflated.

the point is that tire condition is very important even if they are just sitting in your driveway holding the car up.

oz · Jul 28, 2008

Yea, I posted this as an FYI. We all know about news magazine shows auto testing (It was NBC that blew up Chevy trucks BTW). As others have said, as long as you inspect your tires and know their condition, you should be fine.

I checked the date code on my '69. The tires were made the 16th and 17th weeks of 1988. They do need to be replaced. They have small checks and cracks on the sidewalls.

My '91 has tires from the 11th week of '96 and the 37th week of '96.

cardude · Jul 28, 2008

I knew those bread makers were up to no good, enticing us with bleached wheat goodness, laughing all the way to the bank!! Damn them all I tell ya!

1320stang · Jul 28, 2008

Another FYI, I went to Big O tires to get some old tires I had mounted on some rims I had just for roll around tires for my Fairlane and they said they couldn't do it if the tires were older than 6 years.

bnickel · Jul 28, 2008

1320stang said:
Another FYI, I went to Big O tires to get some old tires I had mounted on some rims I had just for roll around tires for my Fairlane and they said they couldn't do it if the tires were older than 6 years.

that's just a store policy, no law or anything that says they can't, they just don't want to because they want to sell you new ones

other_shoe · Jul 28, 2008

They might also be looking to avoid potential lawsuits. I can't imagine that their revenues from mounting old tires is anything close to the cost of legal fees. Even with a speedy dismissal, you're looking at thousands and probably tens of thousands of dollars, and I can imagine a lawyer making a good case out of that. Not saying it's fair, just that a competent attorney might be able to do a lot, especially if the company performs state safety inspections.

zookeeper · Jul 28, 2008

The front tires on my wife's '60 Corvette were purchased new in 1986, and thanks to only driving it about 18,000 miles in the past 22 years, they look like new. The rears are two years newer since the camber on the rear wore out insides on the first set in only a few thousand miles. I'm not about to start swapping brand-new tires off a rarely-driven car just because the fine journalists at ABC think so.

Hack · Jul 29, 2008

1320stang said:
Another FYI, I went to Big O tires to get some old tires I had mounted on some rims I had just for roll around tires for my Fairlane and they said they couldn't do it if the tires were older than 6 years.

They are overly cautious. I had a hole in the shoulder of a tire and the local shops wouldn't fix it, so I bought a kit and fixed it myself. That was on my daily driver - over a year ago. No problems so far and I beat on that car regularly.

bnickel · Jul 29, 2008

Hack said:
They are overly cautious. I had a hole in the shoulder of a tire and the local shops wouldn't fix it, so I bought a kit and fixed it myself. That was on my daily driver - over a year ago. No problems so far and I beat on that car regularly.

not sure what doing state inspections would have to do with it. here in Texas they don't look at the age of the tires, just the condition. hell my cougar still has the original firestone supreme spare tire that has never been on the ground, in fact i think it still has the original 69 San Jose air in it and it's perfect. that tire would pass the Texas inspection and every other state inspection that i know of because the condition of the tire is fine

20/20 Story about old tires - IMPORTANT!

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