Tires - The 10 Year Rule

dougrainer wrote:
Michelin guidelines.

1." Keep five years in mind

After five years or more in use, your tires should be thoroughly inspected at least once per year by a professional.

2. Ten years is a maximum

If the tires haven't been replaced 10 years after their date of manufacture, as a precaution, Michelin recommends replacing them with new tires. Even if they appear to be in usable condition and have not worn down to the tread wear indicator. This applies to spare tires as well".

That said, AGE is not as much a concern as how often the tires are used. Tires have emmolients(lube) in the rubber. When tires are regularly driven those emmolients stay distributed thru the entire rubber. When they SIT for long periods(trailers and Boat trailers more common), the emmolients dry out and cause certain areas of the rubber to dry and have small cracks thru the tread. So, if you have a 7 year old RV or CAR and have less than 10k miles on it, REPLACE THE TIRES AS THEY ARE NOT SAFE. I replace my 1975 Corvette tires every 7 years which only has 31k original miles. I don't want to risk a blow out caused by drying out of the tires. Doug

Yep. You said almost exactly the same thing 5 years ago in that thread I referenced in the O.P.

In fact, I'm going to add your pdf to it for the benefit of future readers.

However, it seems to be general tire specific. I wonder if commercial truck tires are made any differently. Some people seem to suggest that they are more robust than your average Honda car tire. At 99 lbs a piece, it sure seems like they may be. That said... they also undergo more severe punishment.




Posted By: dougrainer on 05/18/16 02:37pm

Tires should be replaced if 7 years or older. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.
IF you purchase Tire/Wheel ESC protection, guess what? IF your tires are older than 7 years, that protection will not pay for any tire problems as they will state, the tires are too old for proper usage. That is in the small fine print :B They state they are not in business to replace old marginal tires regardless of the Tread left on them. I replace my 1975 Corvette tires every 5 to 7 years, even tho the Car has only 29,000 miles on it. Having a blow out while hot rodding around and the possible damage to the car body is not worth the risk for me. Doug

below is from a Tire Rack seller website. This is for just CAR tires that do not have the stress that RV tires would have.

While American driving conditions don't include the high-speed challenges of the German Autobahn, Chrysler, Ford Motor Company and General Motors have joined their European colleagues by recommending that tires installed as Original Equipment be replaced after six years of service.

Read this link.

http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/Documents/2014_Tire_Safety_SYM_Panel_4b_Kane.pdf
.