Tires- How old is too old?

[youngone]

I am looking for a consensus on aged tires. Three month owner of a 2003 Boxter S with 10 K miles. Original Pirellis. My experience with tires was to be cautious of over 5 years as the rubber can harden, etc.. Any shared thoughts?

[Wayne 962]

5 years is a good conservative life for tires. I'd probably opt for new tires...

-Wayne

[terryengineh6]

2003 with 10K miles? that's a queen

[JMatta]

Those Pirellis must be like hockey pucks! My friend bought an '02 Box S, 15k miles, with P Zeros...the tires were so hard you couldn't stick your fingernail in the tread. He replaced them shortly thereafter (Michelin Sport Pilots) and the car drove as different as night and day.

Tires beyond five years are definitely suspect and in need of renewal.

[turboflyer]

Unless it is a grocery getter they probably need to go. Just make sure to check the news one so you dont start off with a two or three year old tire. Shop tried to sell me an 08 tire. Told them no thanks. Waiting for the new batch to arrive.

[laphan]

Mine came with the original bridgestone S02 and all 4 tires have inner threads separated (306 degrees crack) due to age .
Mine is 02MY.

[srg]

If you are going to replace them anyway, make sure you get "full use" out of them before they are removed!

SRG

[Wayne 962]

Originally Posted by srg

If you are going to replace them anyway, make sure you get "full use" out of them before they are removed!

SRG

Heh, funny. We did this at Willow last time the Super Boxster was out there. We had a bead separation on the tire, and needed to get them "warm". I could only think of one way to do it quickly!

-Wayne

[EPWilson]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

5 years is a good conservative life for tires

+1.

The consensus at a recent PCA mechanics panel I attended was tires should be replaced every 4-5 years, regardless of mileage.

[BYprodriver]

Originally Posted by youngone

I am looking for a consensus on aged tires. Three month owner of a 2003 Boxter S with 10 K miles. Original Pirellis. My experience with tires was to be cautious of over 5 years as the rubber can harden, etc.. Any shared thoughts?

You are correct & most tire manufacturers warrantys expire after 5-6 years of the sale date. Check your owners manual & tire warranty for more info. That being said properly stored tires have a nearly indefinite "shelflife" mainly if protected from UV light which dries out the tires much like the sun dries out our skin. Clean the tire sidewalls & tread the best you can & inspect closely for any surface cracking especially near the wheel & between the tread blocks. Cracks larger than 1/8" indicate the rubber is drying out enough to lose traction & pliability & you should evaluate your intended usage of the tires: unsuitable for high speed cross country touring / suitable for display in a car show etc.

[Steve986]

Boy, it has never occurred to me to check the age of new tires! Of course, makes perfect sense! How does one confirm the manufacturing date of the "new" tires? Is there a date code on them somewhere?

Steve

[thstone]

Find the DOT number on the tire sidewall. It starts with "DOT" and will have 10-12 digits. It might be on the inner sidewall so look there if you can't find it on the outer sidewall.

The last two digits are the year of manufacture, e.g., 10 would be 2010.

The two digits precediing the year are the week of the year that the tire was manufactured, e.g., 12 would be the12th week of the year or somewhere around late March, 51 would be the end of December, and so on.

[turboflyer]

My tire shop just called today and my new bridgetones are in. They were back ordered due to a production stop. Originally tried to sell me a an 08 and 09 production set. Mine will be on the full 5 or 6 and I wanted the full use. Cant wait. Tired of old tire sound.

[youngone]

Thanks for all that have replied. Replaced the original 18" Pirellis today with Continental DWS all around. Like a whole new car, smoother handling and a ton less road noise. Really remarkable in that the tires I replaced were 50% plus tread. It was the age of nine years that made the difference and perhaps the manufacturer.