Hey all, I was having a conversation with a mechanic buddy the other day, and he flatly informed me that my WWW, regardless of how new they still seem, MUST be replaced after X amount of years. We bought these BF Goodrich WWW in 2018, and they still show lots of tread. After 8 years in, I find it hard to fathom replacing them already. How about everyone else? How often (or not) do you change your WWW regardless of age?
Really, my thoughts are skewed but here ya go. Radial Tires! I would be cautious at 8 years old. I know it's probably not been in the elements, and they probably show no dry rot. The main issue people get into with older tires is tread separation and dry rot cracks. And most shops won't touch older tires with a 10 foot pole. So, if you get a nail in it and try to get it repaired or balanced, they won't do anything for you. Run to 10 years if you drive the hell out of freeway flying. If you stay local, low speeds and occasionally drive it 50 miles then you will probably be fine to 12 to 15 yr range. Bias ply, is all on tread separation. I have seen 50 yr old tires still going but are hard as bricks.
My WWW radials that were on my 56 when I got it came apart at about 12 years old. I had another set on my Thunderbird that got lumps in them at similar age. The bias plies on my 51 are likely 25-30 years old and fine…
Ignore the whitewalls....instead, look at the manufacturing date and the construction. They sure look like radials, and getting to that age they'll come apart some time...no one knows when.
Appreciate the insight! We drive it...a lot. Road trips and local, pretty much from April until November, almost daily.
Avatar had a set of WWW radials a few years ago with about 20,000 miles and nearly 13 years old but looked great. Stored in a dark garage when not being driven. Went down to the Lone Star Roundup with a buddy and made the mistake of bragging about them on the way. Pulled into my parking place at the show and a knot had come up on the RR. On the way back home after dark I threw all the tread off the LF tire at 70 mph. Punched out the headlight bucket with bulb and headlight ring and lost a '57 Cadillac hubcap somewhere on the dark highway. Lessons learned: 1) 7 to 8 years max life on radials. 2) Don't brag in front of radials about their age.
Ever see the damage a tire does to body work when they come apart? If the tread separates from the case, it becomes a snake that beats to death everything it can reach. Aged radial tires have a history of coming apart, regardless of how they may look. A radial tire has "belts" (usually 2 belts) that wrap around the tire under the thread. Those "belts" are what keeps the radial tire thread flat to the road surface. When you go around a corner too hard, the sidewall on a radial flexes and the thread surface remains mostly flat, a bias ply tire usually keeps the sidewall straight, and the thread flexes (that is why bias tires wear out faster then radial tires do). The issue is, the bonding agent that holds the the belts under the thread to the tire case breaks down through heat, age and usage. The "belted" radial tires have 2 or more additional belts between the thread and the tire case, those extra belts compound the problem with the bonding agent. The tire companies say 5 years is pushing your luck, even if they look like new. I'd say if the look good, and your not doing highway speeds, 10 years is really pushing it. If your driving it at highway speeds, the time bomb is getting real close at 7-8 years. If you happen to be that guy that likes to take hard, fast, corners, that 5 years the tire companies recommend may be about right. I had a late 70s car (back in the early 90s) that had a rear tire loose 1/2 of the tire thread in less then 30 seconds. That swinging thread took out the entire rear quarter, blew apart the entire inner wheel well, even damaged the trunk lid when it came apart at 70 mph, without any warning. All of that in the short few seconds it took to get the car stopped. That tire showed no signs of having any kind of problem before it came apart, no vibrations, no wobble, nothing before the bang and the thread beating on the side of the car! After inspecting the tire afterwards, I still had no idea what caused the tire problem, even with 1/2 the tire thread torn loose from the tire case, it still was not low on air pressure. At the time I was working at a new car dealership, none of the other guys had any idea what caused the problem. That car was a beater, I ended up junking it because of the body damage. You may be the lucky guy that gets 15 years out of your old radial tires. The question is, how long are you willing to take a chance of destroying the body work on your car before you change the old tires?
Tire companies say 6 years, although they're in the business of selling tires and covering their ***. Kinda like how the diamond industry decided everyone needs to spend 3 months wages on a diamond. There's also a big difference between a tire that's on a vehicle parked outside in the New Mexico sun and one that's in a garage with no sunlight most of the time. Still, for me 10 years is pretty much the maximum on a radial tire before I get nervous, even in Wisconsin with basically windowless garages. I swapped out several tires over the last couple of years just due to age, not due to cracking or any other issues, and I probably should do a few more this year.
Some say 10 years is it for radials Mileage is irrelevant Bias seem to live longer age wise but wear faster. the solution is to drive em more and replace due to wear.
Yikes, that's something my buddy warned me about. Granted the car stays inside whenever possible, but we put A LOT of miles on each year. I'm sketched out that something might happen now....
Thanks for the info, and I can really start to see the reality of this. Crazy, I had never thought twice before. I'd run "take offs" my dad had saved from the dealership he worked at and I ran those without a care. Now, though, I'm starting to see the reality!
We have two long distance runs we were planning on doing this year, and now I'm not sure what to do. The funds are a little short, trying to get my wife's OT pickup ready this summer, so I was hoping for next year for new WWW. However, after everyone's input, I may need to beg, borrow or steal (just kidding) to get new WWW this summer!
I'm going to hit 8 years in June. I want to trust them at least this year, but jeez! They say paranoia is a form of heightened awareness.....
Working with this stuff everyday I must say something, now can I back it up with scientific proof ? No.... I've noticed some things in the last couple years when it comes to tires. Every since covid hit and people went to staying home and businesses closed or slowed down production, too me and what I've seen tire manufacturing has gotten poorer. We've (where I work) seen more tire failures, more separation, less mileage out of tires. The rubber seems "softer" and we've noticed that a lot of the tires we preferred are now some of the tires we shy away from. Sidewalls seem softer too pretty much across the board. Now the question is..... is it because of cut backs during covid ? Or is it because tire companies have been pushing the change your tires every 6 yrs and they have cheapened the tires to last only that long? Are they finally building in that "planned obsolescence" ? So I'm weary of any tire built since covid being ran for a long period of time... ..
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