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Sat May 10, 2008 7:17 pm

I seen on tv about stores SEARS, WAL MART, etc. are selling new tires that are up to 12 years old. Aparently this has caused alot of blowouts and has resulted in LOTS of deaths. There is a code on the side of the tire, if you know how to read it tells when the tire made. They said the tire instuite , along with other car makers have tried to get laws passed that the tires should not be over 6 years old.
They say the tires DRY rot from the inside, but the outside looks like new. Also test showed tires blowing out at 70+ mph on test vehicles on a closed course with a anti rollover bar on the roof, and the driver knowing the tire was going to blow, still ROLLED over.
Now I have never checked the code on some new tires I bought at Walmart, the tires for my truck, about three months ago. I checked today and the tires have been on the shelf for 3 years, even though they are brand new.
This might make you think about the tires on some of your old dubs,that you rebuilt/restored over 5 years ago. I know on one of my old VW, I put new tires on it 4 years ago, but since I put less than 300 miles a year, I really don't check the tires other than air pressure.
Makes you wonder :?

Sat May 10, 2008 8:09 pm

About 10 years ago I bought six NOS Michelin XZXs at an auction.
They were still wrapped in factory wrapping.They are now 15-20 years old. To date---no physical signs of aging. No problems thus far (although I seldom exceed 75 MPH with my Ghia)

Sat May 10, 2008 10:55 pm

i had a blow out on a metric radial 165/sr/15 tire on my bug at around 70mph on the freeway, i didnt roll over. maybe they should use beetles as test cars. :wink:

Sat May 10, 2008 11:04 pm

Yeah I would'nt think most dub owners go that fast, and the weight might be a factor too.
But they were saying these tires are dry rotting from the inside out, and you can't tell they are bad just looking at the outside the walls, and the tread. They stopped by some tire stores with a hidden camera and were asking the sales people if they knew how old the tires were, and almost all sales people said they were brand new, then the guy showed them the CODE and some of the tires were 9 years old, then the guy said well you would want to use that for a "spare".
But they were saying there are thousands of law suites about these new tires poping. I think even Ford had a recall because the Bridgestones were defect and had resulted in roll overs, this was awhile back maybe 5 years ago.
But I thought this might be important enough, aleast people who read this can say "yeah I seen something about that" . I would hate for some vw owner lose a life.
BUGTHUG :)

Sun May 11, 2008 4:16 am

But the owner of a Buick would be OK?

Sun May 11, 2008 8:37 am

I believe it was Everett that posted in here somewhere how to read the

dates on your tires.

Sun May 11, 2008 8:59 am

It's in the Wheel and Tire Forum
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=219332

Mon May 12, 2008 7:17 pm

vdubyah73 wrote: But the owner of a Buick would be OK?

What year of Buick? :)

Mon May 12, 2008 7:22 pm

I saw that too, I ran right outside with a flashlight to check. I just bought tire's and rims for my Jeep, they were made the 5th week in 08. My girlfriend bought tire's for her car a few months ago, all four tire's had different dates on them but none were too old.

Tue May 13, 2008 2:08 am

After reading the excessivly long Tire Sticky in the Bay Window fourm I purchased a set of tires for my bus. Of course I searched extensively for the right tires and found that the recomended Hancook RA08 have been out of production for some time. I finaly found a suitable tire at the GoodYear dealer. He told me that no matter where I bought my tires to make sure that they were no more than 2 years old. He mentioned that the rubber degrades after time. Needless to say the tires that I bought from him were only a few months old. There's a lot to look at befor you purchase!

Tue May 13, 2008 6:18 am

Blow outs are not the main concern with old tires. The rubber dries and hardens. This is NOT dry rot, and you will not see anything wrong with the tire. It simply gets hard.

When the rubber gets hard, it looses it's ability to grip the road surface. It is sort of the difference between wearing a new pair of rubber soled sneakers and then changing into those brand new leather soled church shoes. The harder sole won't grip the floor and your feet will slide a lot easier.

Many a hot rod and project car have met their demise on their maiden voyage because new wheels and tires were one of the first purchases when the junk was dragged home. Now several years latter the car is ready to roll and those tires still look new and probably still have that blue stuff on them.

But when you try to go around a corner, you end up in the ditch because those old "new" tires just can't hold the road.

The only way to really check is to use a durometer which is a gauge for measuring the hardness of the rubber.

After about 2 years, you will see a significant difference in the hardness of the rubber. It just gets worse from there.

Tue May 13, 2008 11:39 am

http://356registry.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1138

$150,000 car basically toast because of a bad tire.