Danger's of old tires

[tony_l1]

I know for the most part I'm preacher to the choir here but this is what happened to my spare tire due to age. I put off replacing it because; 1) It was a spare. 2) It's been covered and did not show any signs of dry rot or cracking. 3) It never touched the road. Went to check the pressure last week and this is what I found. I checked it 3 weeks ago before my last trip and it was fine. Had I needed it last trip I'm sure it would have blown out within a few miles. This one is a Marathon but age is the reason this happened not the brand. I did a google search and found this isn't totally uncommon even with LT tires. Newbies if you're reading this and contemplating replacing that old spare tire to save a few bucks, don't, it's not worth the aggravation or you're safety.



click to enlarge

[Seamutt]

To me that tire looks as if it had been damaged somehow. Crushed maybe looking at the indentation all across the tread. The rust could have formed after the damage.

[JJBIRISH]

I don’t know if age caused it but I would guess that the final damage was a long time in the making, with what appears to be separation across the tread and in the sidewall, in addition to the rusty or discolored cording…

[Umaxman]

I also don't believe that is from the age.
Only 30 years in the tire industry for me 🙂

[CapriRacer]

tony_l wrote:
I know for the most part I'm preacher to the choir here but this is what happened to my spare tire due to age. I put off replacing it because; 1) It was a spare. 2) It's been covered and did not show any signs of dry rot or cracking. 3) It never touched the road. Went to check the pressure last week and this is what I found. I checked it 3 weeks ago before my last trip and it was fine. Had I needed it last trip I'm sure it would have blown out within a few miles. This one is a Marathon but age is the reason this happened not the brand. I did a google search and found this isn't totally uncommon even with LT tires. Newbies if you're reading this and contemplating replacing that old spare tire to save a few bucks, don't, it's not worth the aggravation or you're safety.



click to enlarge

parkmanaa wrote:
I do not believe this blowout was caused by age of the tire.
I believe it was a manufacturing defect(undercure). Have seen
this a few times in my long tire-industry career, but don't
remember one that lasted what, 8, 9, 10 years? A covered spare
is good indefinitely.

IMHO age, to a great degree just a marketing gimmick, has been made a scapegoat for many, many other problems with tires over the last few years.


I would take it to a qualified tire dealer and have them give me
their opinion.

40 years in the tire industry; saw it all and done most of it.

I also don't think this is age related, but I don't think it was "undercure". It's in the wrong location for undercure and my experience is that undercure causes pieces of the tread to chunk off and not involve the belt.

I notice that the photo shows rust on the steel wires. I think that is a red herring because these wires will rust when exposed to air - even more rapidly if water is also involved (like rain).

I also notice the distortion of the tire. This is classic "Loss of adhesion" of the steel belts - which may of may not be related to the rust.

I find this whole thing interesting as part of this overall discussion of ST failures, but I don't think this is related - as the mode of failure is different.

[SprinklerMan]

krobbe wrote:

SprinklerMan wrote:
I carry 2 spares , because with my luck , I would have a second flat tire 2 miles down the road and have nothing to replace it .

Yah, but what about the 3rd flat 4 miles down the road?

Thats when i call it quits and call road service

[JJBIRISH]

parkmanaa wrote:
I do not believe this blowout was caused by age of the tire.
I believe it was a manufacturing defect(undercure). Have seen
this a few times in my long tire-industry career, but don't
remember one that lasted what, 8, 9, 10 years? A covered spare
is good indefinitely.

IMHO age, to a great degree just a marketing gimmick, has been made a scapegoat for many, many other problems with tires over the last few years.


I would take it to a qualified tire dealer and have them give me
their opinion.

40 years in the tire industry; saw it all and done most of it.

I do agree that to some degree the aging theory is a marketing gimmick, or is being made into one as a means of profiteering… few will buy this though, here anyway…

It’s true that ageing has always been a factor, as it is today, what has or is changing is that the ageing time is getting shorter without much reasonable explanation for it…

Through the years tires got better and better and tread wear mileage got higher and higher… meaning tires were on the road longer before wearing out… so as mileage went from 20 to 30 to 40 to 60 and 80 thousand miles and more, they take many more years to wear out… this leaving aging and failing carcasses still in use a big problem for us…

so new marketing gurus says you should now replace you tires at 5 or 6 years even if they look good…

This is good marketing for selling tires… but first you would have forget (they have) or believe for all those years that the tire mileage went from 20 to 80 thousand miles that tread rubber compounding is the only thing they were doing in R&D depts., all of them … all other compounding, cording, new products and processes were static and frozen in time and no one considered the fact that better tread worked in combination with or needed other better developments in the tire and in the industry…

It’s funny they used to retread 7 year old passenger tires, many tires are retreaded many times over even today… why is it that these carcasses aren’t aging out and taken out of service…

My own personal experience is that tires have lasted 10 years often and sometimes much longer and I mean all types of tires…

As the acceptance for the new aging theory grows, and it is, so will cheaper made reversed engineered tires… and the only losers are as usual are the end users… who will pay more tomorrow for a 40,000 mile tire than a 60,000 mile tire does today… why because in the end, you will be forced to take them out of service and replace them by calendar criteria only…

Chipped tires that report themselves in use beyond the expiration date… anybody 🙂

[krobbe]

SprinklerMan wrote:
I carry 2 spares , because with my luck , I would have a second flat tire 2 miles down the road and have nothing to replace it .

Yah, but what about the 3rd flat 4 miles down the road?

[parkmanaa]

I do not believe this blowout was caused by age of the tire.
I believe it was a manufacturing defect(undercure). Have seen
this a few times in my long tire-industry career, but don't
remember one that lasted what, 8, 9, 10 years? A covered spare
is good indefinitely.

IMHO age, to a great degree just a marketing gimmick, has been made a scapegoat for many, many other problems with tires over the last few years.


I would take it to a qualified tire dealer and have them give me
their opinion.

40 years in the tire industry; saw it all and done most of it.

[SprinklerMan]

I carry 2 spares , because with my luck , I would have a second flat tire 2 miles down the road and have nothing to replace it .

[jerem0621]

I have Maxxis tires as my main four tires. I have a tow-master spare. I needed a spare and could not wait for a Maxxis to come in.

I strongly encourage 5 replacement tires instead of 4 when its time to replace tires for everyone. With ST tires history 6 would not be a bad idea. LOL

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[spike99]

.

Good clip about tire age at - Click Here -

For me, I don't use trailer tires older than 6 years. For vehicles, I use 5 year mark.

.

[JIMNLIN]

In the clicky I see a pic of a ST tire that look like its never been on the ground with a hole blowed in the tread.

Its not a rare occurrence in the trailering world.

[tunatundra]

How old was the tire???

[tony_l1]

gbopp wrote:
What is the manufacture date on the old tires?

I think it was 2004 or 2005. Yes I was stupid for letting it go that long. I really didn't know any better, now I do.