Posted by David Sherman on Monday, August 08, 2005 at 11:50AM :
In Reply to: Tire Age - one thing to consider posted by COTM Mike Stone (Idaho, USA) on Monday, August 08, 2005 at 9:53AM :
I'm a lot more dubious about old tires, even if the tread looks good, since a neighbor gave me 3 good-looking 9.00-20 NDTs some years ago that he'd bought a long time before that for some commercial rig he used to have. When I got them mounted and air in them, the sidewalls were so badly cracked that the Les Schwab boys refused to mount them, saying they were a safety hazard, and they were clearly right. I hated to waste tires with lots of tread on them, so I did end up getting the best one (which wasn't saying much) mounted at a used-tire lot run by a bunch of hispanics whose idea of a safety cage was to lay the tire & wheel underneath the bed of my truck while inflating it. I used it as an inside dual, figuring if it blew up there, nothing terrible would happen. I know I can never afford brand new tires all-round for my old trucks, but this experience showed me that old tires that look like they might have some slight weather checking while uninflated, will look like they're about to explode after you air them up. Rust never sleeps, and neither does the deterioration of all things made of rubber.
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