Subject: Tire Age & Related Problems
Fearless Reid,
Personal & first-hand. No racing or nails.
When I bought my Erika the Red in 1989, she was shod with 165R15 Dunlop SP4
tires that looked to have about 50% tread left. I knew nothing about tire
age & safety so I drove on them for about a year and 6,000 miles, including
70 MPH freeway speeds, without any thought or knowledge of their age.
Then one day as I was cruising at 65/70MPH on I-780 to attend the Wine
Country Classic races at Sears Point when my car started to bounce
violently
like I'd lost wheel weights, broken a number of spokes or was about to
loose
a wheel. After pulling over, checking all my tire and finding nothing, I
limped back home at 30 MPH. After jacking each wheel up to barely clear
the
garage floor and rotating the tire/wheel, I found one that had a tread
separation and mounted the spare. About two months later as I was cruising
on the freeway the same thing occurred and a second Dunlop SP4 had suffered
a tread separation . At that point I put on four new Dunlop SP20s. The PO
had purchased and restored the car with the SP4 tires on it about seven
years before I purchased it, so they the were at least seven years old -
most likely more as they had about 50% tread when I bought it and he only
put on 1,000 miles since restoration.
I feel very fortunate (God is good) that I didn't have a serious accident
using those old tires. I wished I had been warned about the dangers of
driving on old tires.
By the way, four months ago I replaced the five year old Dunlop SP20s with
still useable tread, with new "T' rated Kumho 165R15 Power Star 758 tires
from Tire Rack (4 tires plus shipping for $135.25!) and they are so much
better than the SP20s when new. I now can't brake the rear end loose on at
the same speed at used to at my favorite "drifting corner".
Vrooom vrooom,
John
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