Tire age question

[08Malibu]

The tires on my Malibu are just about 20 years old at this point. A friend of mine bought them when he re-did the wheels for his 69 camaro. I bought them when he decided he wanted to put IROC rims on it, I know they don’t fit the car but he wanted them. They probably have like 100 miles on them tops. They actually spent the majority of their life off the car sitting on plywood in my garage and look like new still. Am I nuts for driving on them?

 

[ck80]

To me, yes.

There's plenty of guys who will drive (locally) on short trips to car shows and the like.

Highway speeds, well, I've seen tread belt separation plenty of times on tires that looked soft, plenty of tread, little use.... but then look at the date and there you go.

They might be fine. They might let go. It's like Russian Roulette on wheels

 

[5spdCab]

I had to replace the tires on my wife's Taurus this last autumn because they were quite old but with lots of tread left. The car had a shimmy that we could not figure out. All front suspension seemed tight, so I finally went to the tire store. They explained to me that the inner plies break on old tires, which is why the shimmy as I drove down the road. New tires gave me a nice, smooth ride. I agree with ck80. Because they have been off the car most of their lives you might get a little mileage out of them, but knowing what I know now, I would seriously consider new tires.

 

[jadigen]

20 years old tires have no business being driven on the street in my opinion. Hell I wouldn't trust them after 6 or 7 years.

 

[fleming442]

Burnout fodder- smoke'em til they pop!

 

[08Malibu]

I know tires have a shelf life from when they’re made , but these still look new still. Hell I just cleaned the blue off the white lettering on the two that didn’t fit on the front. I just got new ones for the front, I’ll be ordering new for the rear very soon.
Pissed I didn’t drive the car much over the past 14 years.

 

[08Malibu]

Burnout fodder- smoke'em til they pop!

Wimpy 305 in the car with the factory high gear, no burnouts possible. Once they finish with this shutdown I should be getting a 350 from a buddy and I have a better rear when I get around to it. Then burnouts. I’d probably wreck my quarter panel with these old tires though.

 

[TURNA]

All depends on how much you value you and your passengers lives.

I hope you have good insurance coverage.

 

[KCP]

Would you hump a backyard hooker with a 20-year old rubber? I guess, or better hope, not.

 

[jadigen]

here is what happens to old tires. tire looked almost new before we left. no cracks great tread nothing to say this was coming... they were on the car when we bought it. thought they were changed when the fronts were (fronts were only a couple years old) and didn't realize they were about 10 years old at the time. happened on the nj parkway doing about 70mph.