Tyre age

Can a tyre be too old?

Car tyres can deteriorate with age. A tyre that’s been sitting in the spare wheel well for years, even though it’s never been used and has plenty of tread could be ready for retirement.

Heat, sunlight, ozone and other environmental conditions can all cause deterioration of the rubber compounds. In service this can lead to tyre failures.

Some industry experts suggest that worn out or not, a tyre may have passed its useful life after about five years, however this is not recognized in law.

A production date code is usually moulded into the tyre sidewall. Consult a reputable dealer for further advice on interpreting this code.tyresHow Long Do Car Tires Last

that should keep you going for a bit

Somewhere this morning I read a warning that older tyres may harden and not grip the road as well so should be replaced after six years. Nothing was said about the elsewhere publicised danger of them blowing if five or six years old.

Our caravan tyres and spare were taken off our F250 which was made in Brazil in February 2004. The original tyres are marked Made in Brazil but are not date stamped (that I can find). We had one blowout when touring in 2009 but they may have been in part attributed to lower tyre pressures, having come of station dirt roads and onto bitumen. When getting a replacement at the tyre service in Wentworth NSW I asked the owner about rotating the spare as the tyres may be "past their use by date". He did not believe there was any problem in using older tyres, saying there may be some damage if left out in the sun, but not if covered as our spare was under a black tyre cover. I said "We'll see" and although we have not done a lot of touring since 2009, the old tyres keep on rolling without incident.

Motherhen

Just before going on a trip – replaced the 5 year old light truck tyres on my caravan – they still had better than 3mm of tread. It was lucky I did so as one of the treads would have peeled – there was a fracture right across the tread of one tyre, which I didn’t see until the tyre was removed. I don’t go much past 5 years as the tyre hardens with age, whether in a shed or in the open.
Some time ago I came across a stranded traveller half way between Carnarvon and Geraldton in WA – his old van had very old tyres (he didn’t know their age) he’d blown his spare also.

Justin

If you mount the tyre with the white lettering outboard there will be less UV damage ;-)

I think your Coopers deserve a major outback trek.

Bob