I bought a 1971 car. It had tires that were probably not original. The car had sat (how did your buddy's car stay at 37k for 20 years? It sat too). I eperienced "tread seperation" where the rubber blistered off of the metal inside the tire, flinging rubber everywhere as the tire disintegrated, not unlike those big rig treads that you see on the side of the road, but I didn't have 7 or 9 other tires to rely on.
I was driving the car and it caused me to focus my attention most acutely, as the car was going about 60 mph.
It destroyed the metal inside the fender and although not dangerous at the time (I was going straight), scared me quite a bit.
I do not trust any tires or brake systems on old cars unless I see a receipt in the manila file folder that comes with the car.
I suggest that the money on tires and new soft brake lines is worth every part of the inconvenience of installing them. Life's short. Don't be cheap about it.
-Kenyon
Neal Herman <chrycordoba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Is there a way to determine the age of a tire by looking at the numbers and letters on the sidewall? About six months ago a friend acquired a mint condition, all original '80 Cadillac Seville with 37,000 miles. This week when he was talking with the former owner, he asked when the tires had been changed, and was told the were the original tires. While they have plenty of tread, now he's concerned about dry-rot and tire disintegration while going 70 mph on the highway.
I, and probably many on the list have bought cars with tires that appear to be fine, but which in fact may be long past their freshness date. How big a concern is this, especially when the car is only driven perhaps 1000 miles a year? Am I being paranoid?
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