Tyre's, what is acceptable?

[Mick787]

At this very moment, here in the UK, there is a single alloy wheel being offered for sale on a well known internet auction site. The listing says the tyre and alloy are brand new. The images show the label is still present on the tyre.

I've put a couple of questions to the seller, one of them being what is the production date of the tyre? I've received an answer. As a result of that, I would be buying just the rim, I would not fit that tyre to my car. Despite the label being on the tyre, I do not consider that tyre to be 'brand new'.

Recently I scrapped two tyres on my XC60, they were 5 years of age but still had plenty of tread left. The other two were the same age but wear was an issue. I decided to change the original fit Pirelli's to Cross Climates all round. Yes, I could have bought two more Pirellis of the same type, it would have been cheaper but I wanted all season capability rather than having two complete sets of rims, (or not bothering).

In my past life I've been involved with so many incidents which were caused by tyres, some causing loss of life. Tyres do deteriorate, some show problems on the inside but not on the outside. Perhaps this explains my reasoning.

The object of the post, what do you class as being acceptable for tyre life, have you ever considered age alone as a factor for changing a tyre? Have you ever looked at the date stamp on a tyre?

UPDATE.... The listing has ended. I do hope whoever may have bought it realises.

[MacV50]

I agree I'd be looking to change tyres that are 5+ years old regardless of wear.

So many people are unaware of the manufacture date on tyres and many must be duped into buying old stock at cheap prices.

[Deck1ng]

I recently purchased two tyres from that well known internet sales site. I did demand to know the manufacture dates of both. One was 11/19 the other 01/19. I was happy to go along with the purchase. From on old friend who spent his whole working life working for Michelin( following 12 years in HMForces), he advised me that the shelf life of his tyres was around 4 years, to buy nothing older. I suppose it’s one question never asked when you go into a tyre house, how old are the tyres? As you would think that they should have a steady and continuous turnover. Therefore always having reasonably new stock.
But in answer to your question, if I had tyres of 6/7years and older I’d be asking if they where safe to use or not irrespective of tread left.
For sure tyres deterate with time, cracks appear in the rubber and they dry out etc.

[Deck1ng]

Found a quote from the European Tyre and Rim Organisation that states that most manufactures and organisation consider tyres as new, upto 5-6 years from their date of manufacture.
Please ignore this post, I have quoted out of context.

[Mick787]

Deck1ng, so I can't help wonder if they are saying its ok to buy a tyre which is 5/6 years old and then expect it to last how long? The comment about Michelin's 4 year shelf life is more plausible.

We recently bought a small used second car, 7 years old from a second hand car dealership. It had done very low mileage. All the Bridgestones were 7 years old and were obviously original fit and suffering many cracks. I had it re shod.

The guy selling this rim and tyre on the 'net, said it had been on a display stand in a show room and would be fine despite being over 6 years old. No thank you!

[Tannaton]

It all depends on how the tyres were stored. If they are in a reasonable temperature, not fitted to a rim and not in the sun or rain then I wouldn't have an issue fitting a tyre that was up to say 4-5 years old. But if it has been on a car for that long, kept outside, I wouldn't go near it even if it had only done 100 miles.

[Deck1ng]

Originally Posted by Mick787

Deck1ng, so I can't help wonder if they are saying its ok to buy a tyre which is 5/6 years old and then expect it to last how long? The comment about Michelin's 4 year shelf life is more plausible.

We recently bought a small used second car, 7 years old from a second hand car dealership. It had done very low mileage. All the Bridgestones were 7 years old and were obviously original fit and suffering many cracks. I had it re shod.

The guy selling this rim and tyre on the 'net, said it had been on a display stand in a show room and would be fine despite being over 6 years old. No thank you!

I realised I had made two statements that could be misleading and did try to have the comment above deleted, so, to try and clarify,
Providing the tyre had been stored correctly in every single way, a shelf life of 4 years is okay, fit and use.
The European Tyre and Rim Orgnisation consider a tyres life starts from date of manufacture and is good for 6 years.
Of course there will always be the odd exception and there will always be someone who has had a tyre for 10 years and still as good as new.

[HDAV]

If you are going to worry about tyres I would be far more worried about the sales of “part worn” tyres than those of unworn units....... stored correctly they should have just as good a “life” in use as those fresh from the factory.......


Thousands of “used” tyres are fitted every day a mate recently bought a transit the tyres are older than the van 🙈🙈🙈 significantly ...

Plenty of cheap people out there prepared to buy whatever is cheapest

[Bonefishblues]

Originally Posted by HDAV

If you are going to worry about tyres I would be far more worried about the sales of “part worn” tyres than those of unworn units....... stored correctly they should have just as good a “life” in use as those fresh from the factory.......


Thousands of “used” tyres are fitted every day a mate recently bought a transit the tyres are older than the van 🙈🙈🙈 significantly ...

Plenty of cheap people out there prepared to buy whatever is cheapest

Why are part worn tyres a particular issue?

All of our cars were fitted with part worns.

[HDAV]

Originally Posted by Bonefishblues

Why are part worn tyres a particular issue?

All of our cars were fitted with part worns.

While many sellers claim they are from the continent etc where they change them at 5mm etc not necessarily the case many are removed from crashed vehicles are stored outside subject to UV degradation can have unseen damage and issues do you inspect the tyres prior to fitting?

But a brand new budget vs a part worn premium tyre is a tricky one. If it passes an mot it must fine right 🤷*♂️