On prior research on radial tire shelf life. Northern climate conditions extend life somewhat. But not as much as you would think. 6 to 8 years in say Arizona might reflect 8 to 10 years Alberta. Mine are much older now, up to 80 mph this week and 70 mph yesterday...yikes Time for more used tires...
My wife’s OT car is 6 years old now with 12k miles. A light weight compact. If I were to drive cross country I’d change the tires. My pickup is 3 yrs old with 24k and we are getting ready to drive for Ca.to Fl and I’m ok with that..
Your not the only one. Have them on a couple of vehicles and its taken very little weight to balance out and run out great. I'm not sure what all the bashing is about. They are different i don't expect the same kind of performance as my everyday drivers and all is fine.
@Moriarity I have Coker Firestones on all my cars and some of them aren’t even balanced and run true and smooth.. I haven’t had any issues with any of them for 30 years I did send one tire back a few years back as I felt it was too much wheel weights on it and they replaced it no problem. I also drive my stuff maybe not cross country but if you see me at a show I’m in a old 32 with firestones.
My 93 tbird is on it's second set of tires, installed in 2011................ The original date code is broken down as ADCD where ABC is the day of the year 001 to 365 and D is the last digit of the year made so 1949, 59, 69, 79, 89, or 99
...probly most of us are running on out-dated tires,...if they recommend 5 years life,..I've had very good luck with Cokers (radials)
I don’t think so, but just like anything with a review, we hear the most from dissatisfied folks. Folks that are happy with what they have don’t complain and in most cases don’t come back and talk about a good thing. I used to get annoyed when I’d get an email to review what I bought, via AZ, Summit, etc. then I got to thinking, why not let others know that the “**x” fit good and works good “.
So from what I have learned is , any tire with a 3 digit code is too old. Also no way to determine which decade they were made.
I know this is an old thread The tire wear rating, known as the Uniform Tire Quality Grading (UTQG), was established by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 1978. This rating system measures a tire's treadwear, traction performance, and temperature resistance, and is required for all p***enger car tires sold in the United States since March 31, 1979. this is a way to tell if your tires are older than 1979 my 32 had polygl*** radials on the front with no tire wear rating .brought some wheels & tires to drive it home
I have had around 7 sets of Coker tires both radials and bias mostly good results. 1 bias way out of balance only good for a spare in my opinion but not Cokers. bought a replacement. 1 radial belt's broke they replaced after returning it I think it was 4 years old.at the price they are now and a 6 year life for radials I am not running any now
Replacing these tires today. Bought them in 1997 IIRC . Still decent tread, no cracks, but it's time. I think I got my money's worth!
My daily driver got new tires a year ago, they had 75K on them and still had half their tread left but I had put them on in 2014. If the fronts didn’t howl I probably would have run them another two years. I don’t do much hauling anymore or need to get on job sites like I did fifteen years ago so I replaced all four with a highway tread. I probably would run those red lines that were pictured earlier especially when they would have only gotten driven 2K a year on my Fairlane and the rears are going to disappear very quick. Painted body color steel wheels and dog dish caps with red lines look good. I guess my point is you need to consider what you’re going to do with the tires tire age should be considered. Long tips, hulling, your wife and kids driver, a weekend street strip car that might see 120-130 mph along with tire condition, it all makes a difference.
Be sure to check the date code on this thread, before replying. It's getting a bit stale...dry rot...ready to separate....
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