Safety of old tires

[Gsinill]

When I bought my Appel, the seller threw in a few cool looking gum wall tires. He wasn't really sure how old they are. I know that there is a recommendation on car tires that states that tires older than 10 years should be replaced. Any thoughts on bicycle tires? Also, car tires have a coded manufacturing date on the sidewall, couldn't find anything on the bike tires.

[Ken Robb]

Old tires get brittle so they don't have the traction they used to and they are more prone to catastrophic failure. An unscientific examination might include flexing an uninflated tire to look for cracks in the tread and sidewall and poking the tread with a fingernail and comparing the relative resilience with that of a new tire.

[cleans up]

I just got rid of a great pair of tires that may have had another 1000 or more miles in em, but they were older and had say for a while. I say if you can't trust it becasue there are any signs of break down then dump em.

A cheap set could be had for $30 in replacement, a nice set for 60-100. So when you consider the option of going down somewhere, possibly in a spectacular crash :eek:, why risk it

[AngryScientist]

if they are soft and supple, they're good to go, if they are dry and brittle, with lots of micro cracks, toss 'em.

[rab]

Agree with Angry Scientist.

Age may not be nearly as critical as the storage conditions. If they have been in a hot garage/storage area and/or exposed to lots of sunlight etc, they may have experienced some degradation and would show with cracks and a general loss of flexibility.

Also probably varies across manufacturers and their different compounds used so likely no easy way to establish a general rule beyond visual inspection.

[avalonracing]

If in doubt... throw them out.

Rubber is cheaper than skin.

[justinrchan]

If in doubt... throw them out.

Rubber is cheaper than skin.


Agree - injury to you or your bike is not worth it.

[Shiversolitude]

An old dry rotted, cracked tire definately has a chance to go boom... or even a tire thats just super old but doesnt "look" like its on its death bed.

That said, Ive ridden a set of Continental town and countries that had more cracks in the sidewall than they had sidewall... and they never failed me.