How long do Tires last?

[Jeff A.]

I have a set of Coker bias redlines on my 67.
Purchased these new in 1993 -
They still look new, and have almost no tread wear.

I hardly ever drive this car, but I am taking it 80 miles roundtrip next Sunday.

Are these tires still safe to do short trots around town, or should I think about replacing them?

[Steven B.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

I have a set of Coker bias redlines on my 67.
Purchased these new in 1993 -
They still look new, and have almost no tread wear.

I hardly ever drive this car, but I am taking it 80 miles roundtrip next Sunday.

Are these tires still safe to do short trots around town, or should I think about replacing them?

Jeff, although tires deteriorate at somewhat different rates I have read tires over 6 years old are not recommended to drive on. I have a set 4 years old I will not drive on due to excessive cracking. I have originals for my '77 and '78 with 90%+ tread, the ones that were fatory installed, and I won't take them around the block. It is just too big a chance to take with your car. '93 was 16 years ago---

[Tom H.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

I'd say it just depends on the tire, the conditions it is stored in and how you drive the car. 6 years seems a bit soon to retire a set of tires. i know that's what they say............................ but at that rate, I've got 7 cars that aren't safe to drive !!!

I wouldn't be afraid to run 80 miles on a set of 16 year old tires ....... IF, they looked good, the pressure was in spec and I was driving sensible. Others may disagree, but that's just me.

[Patrick H.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

There's a prominent member here who would tell you that those Cokers went bad about ... 16 years ago.

Look into some nice radials from Diamondback if you want redlines that you can drive. The ones on your car "might" be OK but you never know.

http://www.dbtires.com/

Patrick

[Lyndon S.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

I am sure Duke will chime in soon, but I would think that if they are NYLON cord bias ply tires, you should be ok. Do you see any cracking? I know I had a set of radials go bad in like 3 years with expose to sunlight on my truck with small hair line cracks. But my old NYLON cord tires, still looked good after ten + years, now of course they were not exposed to direct sunlight for long periods of time just, I keep the car in a garage with the no sunlight to get it in that might have helped.
________
Kelly

[Ron R.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

You're gonna' DRIVE a '67 Corvette?
Congratualtions! Now, get rid of those 16 year-old bias-plys and put a set of new radials on that bad boy. P205/75Rx15s or P215/70Rx15s will fit your stock wheels just fine.

[Dennis O.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

A lot of folks will say they are "past they're effective life", but I don't think so. The key thing here is exposure to the atmosphere. If the tires were on a car inside and out of the UV, I think they may last 20-30 years with regular attention (spraying them with a good preseritive etc.). A couple of cases in point; I have a '70 el Camino with 19,xxx actual miles and the original tires and wheels which I replaced with ralleys and radials in 1995 when I bought it. The car had been in inside storage all of the previous time and I have the original tires and wheels covered up in the basement. I spray them with tire protectant from time to time and inspect them regularly; they look like they did when they came from the factory. We also have a 1984 Fiero (don't ask me why; it's my significant other's) with 28,000 0riginal mies; again, it has been stored inside for all of it's life. Last year, I had to take it to my new storage facility which is 175 miles away. I checked the original Firestones carefully and they looked perfect. I made sure that they were properly inflated. For the first 50 miles, I was really worried, but after checking the conditions and pressures every 5 miles and everything looked great. I did the last 125 miles at 70 MPH (I was late) and everything looked fine. I carefully checked the tires for cracks in the sidewalls, etc and found none. They looked perfect. When I restored my 1951 Ford in 1987, I bought a set of 6:70-15 WW's from Coker and had them installed locally, I've put over 10,000 miles on that car and the tires, though worn, don't leak and look very good.

Don't even ask me about the original B.F.Goodrich Silvertowns (9.00 X 20) on my 2300 mile original '48 Seagrave fire engine. We check 'em out every time, and they look good, and I've had no problems, but I have to admit, with these we only go to local meets. Also, the 8:25 X 16.5 on the old '77 Motorhome are 9 years old with less than 1,000 miles look perfect (when the price of gas went sky high a couple of years ago, there were no more vintage dirt track races to go to).

Therfore, I say,keep 'em inflated properly, move 'em around once in a while, check 'em out before you go any where, and MOST OF ALL,; keep 'em out of the weather amd UV rays, and you'll be surprised how long they last.


Befoe anyone gets on me about just being lucky, I'd like to tell you about the properly inflated new tires that blew on me in the first 100 miles of their life. Scary.

If the cars been inside (duh!), I gotta believe you can run them to the local shows. Oh, I also have a '67 Coupe and a '68 Convertible, but was not lucky enough to even come close to having anything close to original tires on either of them.

Denny

[Jeff A.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

These tires have been in a climate controlled garage the whole time.
I drive the car about 300-500 miles a year.
And I don't do anything crazy.

They have no cracks and the rubber is still perfectly soft.
I really don't want to put radials on this one - I like the bias look better.
The other cars all have radials on them (The Corvettes have extra Bias tires too)

For you guys thinking I am crazy - don't worry - this is a Camaro, but the knowledge base over here is the best - So I asked here
Also I figured it was a typical Corvette concern.

As far as the 6 year rule - I would need to buy a LOT of tires - In fact NONE of my cars are safe then? - I think that 6 years is way too soon.

Nothing I can do about next Sunday - we are driving up to display at the Boca Raton Concourse D' Elegance.
I really don't know why they invite us "common folk", but it is always a blast to participate.

edit
Oh - the reason i don't have radials for this car anymore...
The Diamond Back redlines I had would not stay red.
I sanded - I scrubbed - nothing would make them stay red - they were "dark-maroon lines".
I finally put them on another 67 and sold the car.

[Duke W.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

The subject of "tire life" has been discussed many, many times. There's lots of information in the archives.

Duke

[Dennis O.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

Sorry Duke, I just thought I had a lot of experience in this area. I tried to search the archives, but it's either not very intuitive or I'm real dense. What does it take to "Search the Archives"?

Denny

[Jim T.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

My 96 LT4 has its original tires and has spent most of its life in a dark garage. I drove a 600 mile round trip in SEP and no problems. It sure helps during non driving periods to roll the car forward for a week and back for a week to change the contact patch area. My 96 is the easiest car I have to roll by hand, can do it with one hand on a tire.
How many driven Corvettes have spares that are 25 or more years old? My oldest is the original red line spare for the 68.

[Kenneth B.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

My 96 LT4 has its original tires and has spent most of its life in a dark garage. I drove a 600 mile round trip in SEP and no problems. It sure helps during non driving periods to roll the car forward for a week and back for a week to change the contact patch area. My 96 is the easiest car I have to roll by hand, can do it with one hand on a tire.
How many driven Corvettes have spares that are 25 or more years old? My oldest is the original red line spare for the 68.

I have a original 56 spare.
KEN

[John H.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

Sorry Duke, I just thought I had a lot of experience in this area. I tried to search the archives, but it's either not very intuitive or I'm real dense. What does it take to "Search the Archives"?

Denny

Denny -

Click on the "Search" icon in the narrow blue bar near the top of the page, and you'll get a drop-down menu for searching. Click on "Advanced Search" in that box and you'll be presented with selections for what you're looking for.

[Duke W.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

Sorry Duke, I just thought I had a lot of experience in this area. I tried to search the archives, but it's either not very intuitive or I'm real dense. What does it take to "Search the Archives"?

Denny

Make sure you use "advanced search" and maybe use my name because I posted to many of these threads. With a ten year knowledge base and growing it's good to know how to use the archives.

Bottom line is that any "tire life limit" is arbitrary. It starts with the quality of materials and construction and then depends on the life the tire leads.

Modern high speed rated radials with nylon cap belts should last 15 years, easy, for typical vintage Corvette use that means they spend most of their lives indoors.

I'm not sure about reproduction bias ply tires, but even though they are expensive I expect that the materials and construction quality that go in to them are the absolute cheapest that will allow them to pass the 35 year old DOT tests, which are little more than a joke! For example and non-speed rated tire only has to withstand 85 MPH for one hour at design load and pressure. You'll never see me trusting my life and car on such a shoddy POS.

Duke

[Bill M.]

Re: How long do Tires last?

As far as the 6 year rule - I would need to buy a LOT of tires - In fact NONE of my cars are safe then? - I think that 6 years is way too soon.

This may be based on tire performance, not on still holding air. I had an old set of Michelin TRX tires that still held air, but they were so hard that they were not safe in the rain; car would not stop in a safe distance. I have no problem carefully driving my '92 with original Goodyear GSCs in the dry, but I won't drive it in the rain.

I took a driving school where the instructor could "blow" both right side tires. It was controllable at normal highway speed.