Could anyone give me an idea on a price point for a complete set of 15'' Sears Allstate wide whitewall tires? They are from the 60's were sealed in wrap as of a couple of years ago and were stored in climate storage. There is no cracks or dry rot and have never been mounted. Thanks guys!
By "price point" do you mean "price?" 50 year old tires are only good at taking up space in your garage.
Tire life is 6 years tops. They become unsafe beyond that. While they look nice, I would not run them. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I wonder how many guys are running 40 year old BIAS ply tires that don't know about the 6 year "rule"?
I used to be one of those guys that said you could run old bias plys if they were kept out of sunlight. It sounded good until I tried and it failed miserably. Bought 2 new Firestones still wrapped in plastic. Drove about 20 miles and the rubber started getting as soft as gum and big splits between treads. $80 shot in the ass, so dont even think about driving on them.
They're not radials, and frankly were probably made with better materials. The trick to these old tires is to run them with tubes and not at full pressure. Heck, I've posted before but the one Hudson I towed around and never even had to put air in, it had whatever tires were on it when parked in 1963. However, it's still a crapshoot to some degree, while it's unusual for bias-plies to fall apart, they can do it. As such, the value is limited. You might see if any museums are looking for correct tires for a car, that's probably the best shot to sell them to anyone.
if ya use them I got a gallon of 20+ year old western candy apple red and hardener to sell ya so you can have vintage paint too
While I don't buy into that 'six year rule' BS (reasonably accurate if you live in the sunbelt, much less so if you don't), at 50 years old these are 'display only' now....
I don't think I would go 50/60 mph on them but wouldn't have a problem using them around town. I just took the Michelins of my vette that were on it when I bought 15 years ago & they are still good looking but was selling the car so put a set of new tires on it. The stuff made back in the good ol days was made to different standards. Todays stuff is made to discard after a brief use not like when stuff was made to last. I don't have anything on my rides that isn't over 6 years old. I guess the best price would be the best offer that you would be happy to let them find a new home ,other than that they are garage art.
Radials when they get old, seperate and can quite literally blow up, I've seen it happen more than once. That's what the six year thing is all about. Bias plies generally will only get unhappy if they're run too low a pressure that it puts a lot of flex in the sidewall. Then they'll come apart. You avoid that by running more air pressure in them. A new tube solves most leak issues. I mean, 40 years ago we used to recap bias ply tires and get a whole second use out of them, nobody worried about them being six years old then.
There is a reason for the date code. Where I work (military base) we have turned away tires for having old date codes. We have also changed out what looks to be brand new tires that still have the nubs on them due to them being to old. 6 years has been proven to be the magic number.
I never said anything about running them, price point means a price range FYI.... They would work on trailer queen but no I wouldn't run em'. I know quite a few guys that have run the same tires for years with no issues. Thanks for the responses.
6 yr is a safety factor (any engineer worth their weight will figure in a safety factor. at 6 yrs I am sure the tires are still good to use (no need to remove from your factory car) but if you buy then their life is considerably shorter. It also might not last at their upper Speed rating but at reasonable speeds they will. (6 yr also gives a reference so shops can sell new tires.. and reduce liability of re-installing used tires). For the 50 yr old tires.. they are worth what you are willing to pay. for a display, then probably 40 to 50 for the set. if I had a show car or a car on display in my musuem and wanted that vintage look, then they would be worth 50 all day long
I'm running 30 year old Firetones w/tubes - no problems. I think this whole tire thing is a bunch of crap. A way to suck more money out of our pockets -7 year rule - baloney! I want to put new tires on my car but can't stomach the thought of spending $220 + ( tire, shipping, tax, mounting, balance, disposal, more taxes, misc, etc ) for some Coker's own brand bias tires that may fall apart the first trip down the road - heard a boat load of issues last winter on here. I may just have to put on some jap crap radials w/ 5/8" white walls - All 4 mounted out the door for $320! But now the car will look like s*+# a right?
Radial tires ALWAYS have to adhere to the 6yr rule. Their construction absolutely requires it. However, I'm not sure I agree with that rule on bias plys. I got a s**tload of miles on a pair of 20yo WWWs. I can also tell stories of a certain Cali customizer that ran a pair of my 1960 Lesters on the short track @ Bville. He said the T smoothed right out @138mph. Be safe & sell those tires to me. SinglefingerSpeedShop.com
and no one said Henry J/Allstate......of course finding a stock one on here might be hard....save them tires for me....still tryin' to get a stocker off an owner and out of his shed.... with RustyNewYorker - have been running old poly/bias on my trailer for years....yes some did come out of trunks....but have held up really well...went those sorry radials come apart - they tear up a;ot of shit... just hope it's not yors....
I'm with the ones who say that they would be great for a museum car or trailer queen or car that only got driven around town and even then usually in a parade but I don't think I'd want to throw them on my 48 and try to make it to Roundup and back on them in a two week time frame. A guy has to remember that a lot of the guys who get away with driving ancient tires on their cars actually never drive the car any distance and don't really drive them often or they would have worn those vintage bias tires out long ago. Where you have a fit if your work car with radials doesn't get at least 50 k on a set of tires or more bias tires were usually only good for 15 to 25 K in the early 70's when I worked in a Firestone store in Texas and we sold Deluxe Champion white walls for 100 bucks a set new. I think the cheap ones had something like 15K guarentee and the good ones were good for 25K. When you see cars like that cute little shoebox in one of the previous posts with tires over 20 years old that tells me that it is driven less than 1K a year and never does long trips that get the tires hot for hours on end. Put those tires on Bob K's Chevy and they would be in shreds by noon most likely the way he covers miles.
Buddy of mine drove one of his 56 Fords from northern IL to a show at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He made a few laps on the track at 80 MPH. After the show he drove it back home. The tires were over 30 years old at the time and he didn't have any problems. I agree that radials have a limited life span but bias ply tires can last a very long time if they are stored properly.
, price point means a price range FYI.... FYI a price point is a specific price , not a range . Economists use "price points " to identify how consumers react to that point within a "possible range of price" for an item over which the demand will remain relatively unchanged. Its overused because people think it sounds cool .
Learn something new everyday, thank you for taking the time to look that up and give me the correct definition. I need to work on my terminology because it only registered with a few guys on here... it does sound cool though.
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