Reid -
I think age of the tire has as much to do with safety as the quality of the
tire.
On my BN1 I have 30+ year old Michelin XZXs with basically new tread. That
being said the tires are cracked and are no longer black in color but
brownish. I have no interest in seeing if these tires will go the distance
(although I've put about 5K miles on them without incident so far) but I
feel I am rolling the dice. New tires & wheels are on order from Allen
Hendricks and are going on the car very soon.
On my BJ8 I have 15+ year old Riken 185 70 R15s, and I have to say these
tires run and still look like new. Despite the fact that I have 40K miles on
the tires, I still have about 75% of the original tread. I have not seen any
deterioration in handling or wet road holding with these tires, and they
still look new to me. I know everyone is saying I should replace these
tires, but to be honest I don't see any deterioration on these tires at all.
I'm not racing this car, and it spends very little time on the freeway, so
I'm perfectly happy to keep them for now.
Best Regards,
Alan
'53 BN1 '64 BJ8
On 11/17/05, Reid Trummel <editor_reid@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Team,
>
> Just looking for some "anecdotal evidence" and thought maybe you could
> help...
>
> Over the decades I've read articles warning about the dangers of old
> tires,
> and yet I can't recall hearing of any actual problems with them. Some say
> you should not drive on tires more than 10 years old, or more than six
> years
> old, and tire sellers and quite happy to sell you a new set every year --
> for safety's sake, of course!).
>
> I do not doubt that for high-performance applications, such as for racing,
> it is always better to have the best and newest of everything, but for the
> occasional joy ride -- the way that most of us typically use our Healeys
> --
> it seems like overkill, at least based on my experience and the lack of
> evidence to the contrary that I have seen or heard.
>
> So my request is this: Please tell me if you have had any problems with
> tires that are attributable to the age of the tire(s). If you got a flat
> tire by running over a nail, the age of the tire isn't NOT the proximate
> cause of the flat -- I'm looking for stories of problems that were caused
> by, or the direct result of, the tires being old. No old wives's tales or
> "I heard of a guy who..." stories, please. YOUR personal, first-hand
> experiences, please.
>
> Anyone? Thanks.
>
> Reid
> Fearlessly driving on 15-year-old Pirelli radials
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