New tires...Fuzion...well stored

[mark houghton]

After dicking around for the last month or so, doing fun things like valve adjustments, new plugs, and CVJ replacement...spying my rear tires says its time for some new skins.
I have a full new set of Fuzion (Bridgestone?) that I bought years ago...put in vacuum bags and stored inside in a dark closet. People are quick to warn against age degradation, but when propery stored I would question that.

May just run them down to the local tire shop for mounting and balancing.

[908/930]

What does the date code on the tire say, much older than 10 years?

[mark houghton]

Just took one out of the bag, looks and smells like new. I know, rule of thumb is 10 years. These are 14 years old and as I said, always protected from oxygen, ozone, UV light, in controlled temperature. Even so, rubber supposedly degrades over time. I can throw them away, or mount them and keep a close eye on them. Won't be tracking or hitting triple digit speeds; well...other than short bursts perhaps.

[Alan L]

I think the issue is 'how hard do they get'
Are they still pliable? Or hard as rocks.
Alan

[mark houghton]

Originally Posted by Alan L

I think the issue is 'how hard do they get'
Are they still pliable? Or hard as rocks.
Alan

Soft and pliable, would never know they were born in 2011.

[Alan L]

Well thats a good start.
Alan

[Bucketlist]

I am still running a set of 25 year old Pirelli's on my old turbo, still look new, are they dangerous? probably. Should I have replaced them 10 yrs ago, yes, and 5 years ago.
Maybe tomorrow, I just drive her to car shows and Cars & coffee these days.
Some tire stores wont touch a 10 year old tire even to dismount them, Discount Tire is one of them. If you feel ok with them, run them for a while and see what you think.

[krasuskyp]

For your stated usage, I'd run 'em - esp if they look / smell / feel good.

Mine came with those, couldn't get rid of fast enough. But again, for your usage - I'm sure they're fine...

[mark houghton]

Originally Posted by krasuskyp

For your stated usage, I'd run 'em - esp if they look / smell / feel good.

Mine came with those, couldn't get rid of fast enough. But again, for your usage - I'm sure they're fine...

Yeah, probably not the best tire for extreme sports but at the time the price was killer and my 930 was just about due...until some little bbq happened.
What the hell, as long as my local Les Schwab will mount them I'll run 'em until/if they show signs of dry rot.

[spuggy]

When I bought my car, it had brand new Kumho Ecsta hi-perf summer tires on it. First winter, I even drove it in light snow (didn't plan to - it was a nice warm day when I set out), and they seemed fine. Not that I wasn't driving like there were eggs on the pedals, given that it was twisty country roads with 2-3" of slush...

They seemed to drive exactly the same in warm conditions - but each fall/winter, they got progressively more and more untrustworthy on cold, damp roads. By the 3rd they were, frankly, evil at 40F or below - tramlining, pushing, sliding around - not to mention spinning on tiny throttle openings. Pulled them off for a set of Conti snow tires, which were night and day in the same exact conditions.

Some say modern tires aren't really "rubber" - and continue to cure with age, regardless of how they're stored.

[mark houghton]

Originally Posted by spuggy

Some say modern tires aren't really "rubber" - and continue to cure with age, regardless of how they're stored.

Probably some truth to that, but perhaps encouraged by the tire manufacturers; "buy our new tires". I suspect I'll mount them up, should be good for a few miles of relatively mellow driving anyway.

[930Paddy]

I'd say if they feel somewhat pliable they should be fine, especially as we seldom drive these death machines in the wet or other extreme weathers, and by now we all no ho to drive them safely. Rock on unless you drive it like you stole it and its pushing stupid high horsepower.

[Bucketlist]

After selling tires for a few years, one thing was obvious to me, the tire manufactures could build a tire that would last a lifetime if they wanted to.....but then they wouldn't sell any tires.

[patina]

Those tires were junk when they were new. Blows me away that you guys don’t want to spend $700 on brand new tires for these cars considering what they are worth these days. Tires are one of the most important safety and performance items on the car.

[spuggy]

Originally Posted by patina

Those tires were junk when they were new. Blows me away that you guys don’t want to spend $700 on brand new tires for these cars considering what they are worth these days. Tires are one of the most important safety and performance items on the car.

^This.

Couldn't agree more. Compromising on tires is just dumb in all kinds of ways. Especially on a high-performance vehicle. It's your only contact with the road.

I run Extreme Perf Summer tires (Dunlop Direzza or my new fave, Falken Azeni RT615K+) when temperatures permit, and fit winter wheels shod with real freakin' snow tires (three peaks and a snowflake symbol) when it gets cold. Like Blizzaks or ContiWinterContacts.

Because I personally think "All Season" tires are a crock - a compromise that doesn't do anything very well. Wifey's Tacoma wears them - until it actually gets cold, then it gets the snow wheels.

Oddly, Jalopnik just yesterday published a test where a diesel PT Cruiser with "premium all-season touring tires" out-performed an M3 with "budget high-performance tires".

Sadly, this comparison doesn't include every possible test that you could run on these two cars and instead focuses on wet handling, wet braking and dry braking. Around the 1.14-mile test track, the M3 posted a best time of 93.60 seconds. Meanwhile, the PT Cruiser's best time was 89.67 seconds, nearly four full seconds faster than the BMW. A*BMW that had three times the horsepower when these cars were new. Sure, the PT Cruiser's diesel engine is relatively torquey but it never had "destroy an M3" levels of torque. Not even close. The difference really is just good tires.*

And the PT Cruiser, with 15 year-old ABS tech, also out-braked the newer M3 in the wet.

To see what the M3 could actually do on the right tires, they then put it on a set of premium ultra-high-performance tires. Dry braking distance dropped by 18.31 feet, while wet braking improved by 17.59 feet, and it lapped the wet track with a time that was 14.50 seconds faster. So yeah, good tires matter.

Diesel PT Cruiser Vs. BMW M3 Track Battle Shows Just How Important The Right Tires Really Are

[mark houghton]

Unpacked the NOS ("old" being the operative word) tires that I've had in vacuum bags in a dark closet in the house all these years. The enemy of rubber is heat, oxygen, and UV light...which I have attempted to mitigate. They smell like new rubber, nice and pliable, etc. Will drag 'em down to Les Schwab tomorrow.
Proving to challenge the internet wisdom (sponsored by your friendly tire store) that anything older than 10 years are junk.
Hate to see good money go to waste, but of course I will pay close attention to them...just in case.
I know that many of you here feel that Fusions are totally crap...we shall see, they may be just that. As long as they go round and round and keep me on the road for highway cruising, then fine. I'm not a track runner like some of you.
Bought them on a whim many moons ago because they were dirt cheap; $410 for 4 tires to my door. Never put them on due to a slight mishap wirh my then first 930.
And oh...my current 930 came with Fushions and I haven't found them scary with how I drive anyway.

[RhysM]

Mark - if it makes you feel any better, where I've owned my 930 7? weeks, I've been waiting for continentals to turn up for the rears. I've been 'road testing' lightly on 32 year old tyres which have sat and not been driven, you could put quarters in the cracks on them. Am I stupid? yes definitely, have I ventured more than a few miles from my house on local roads? no!

But they've held, but they are perishing looking at them, funnily enough I have the wheels to me later today with new tyres luckily as I'm not comfy driving it now they're literally gaping.

Good to see another Porsche guy who likes Harleys also. I have a 1941 pre war Knuckle.

R

[mark houghton]

Originally Posted by RhysM

Mark - if it makes you feel any better, where I've owned my 930 7? weeks, I've been waiting for continentals to turn up for the rears. I've been 'road testing' lightly on 32 year old tyres which have sat and not been driven, you could put quarters in the cracks on them. Am I stupid? yes definitely, have I ventured more than a few miles from my house on local roads? no!

But they've held, but they are perishing looking at them, funnily enough I have the wheels to me later today with new tyres luckily as I'm not comfy driving it now they're literally gaping.

Good to see another Porsche guy who likes Harleys also. I have a 1941 pre war Knuckle.

R

Uggh...no bueno with cracks/dry rot. Good you're taking it real easy on test drives. I once blew a rear tire that was past its tread life, basically delaminated. I was only doing a respectable 55 mph luckily and it gave me about a 3 second warning going womp womp womp so I could slow down a touch. It pays to pay close attention to your tires.

Get your new skins on, and crank on some boost to see what your 7 week old car can do!

Wow, a pre-war Knuckle! When I was a kid my dad passed on an opportunity to buy several crated 45's from the military (packed in cosmolene). He had to buy the whole lot or none at all for something like $500. Should have, ya think?
That's my forth Harley, the first being a rigid Shovel in 1986. Been riding two wheels for well over 50 years.

[RhysM]

Bought a set of BBS RS 930 spec wheels a while back for a song, so the tyres are on and ready to go, the fuchs will be going into storage.

Yeah It's unsafe to drive on them. I can't go too wild on the boost I haven't managed to get into the WUR yet as it's overfuelling for sure on boost.

Ah amazing, I had a 54 pan, and 47UL! Now the 41 EL! seems Porsche and Harleys tend to go hand in hand!

[zakthor]

I think you have a duty to try them out. you paid $400 for them and stored them with intention.