Old Tires

[enerdome]

For those of you considering using those old tires with lots of
tread left, DON'T!
I was moving my Coupe from one storage area to another
yesterday. the left front looked a little soft, so I brought it up to 28
Lbs or so. as i was sitting there a perfectly good LOOKING
sidewall started to bulge more and more. finally with a very loud
"BLAM" it blew a 8 inch hole in the sidewall!
another thing I noticed as I am sandblasting rims and repainting
them is that if a tire has been on the rim a LONG time, they tend
to pit the rim at the bead area. i mounted a tire that looked great,
but had a pinhole leak. I finally went down to NAPA and got a can
of bead sealer(about 15.00). so far it works great, and have had
no further leaking.
On another note, has anyone tried using the urethane
windshield sealer yet as a motor mount repair? did it work?
I will be out working on my "organ donor" sedan this afternoon. if
you folks in the west see a large cloud of smoke to the East, it's
not a forest fire....it's a Honda that still runs (sort of) on the
original engine from 1971.

[Love]

I took a trip with two blowouts on the right front tire.  What fun.  Just try to get a 10" tire in a hurry. The tire shop fed-ex'd Kumho tires from the Tire Rack.  Now the important part, there is a date code cast in the tire.  It's an oval mark with some (3? 4?) numbers on it.  The last digit is the year of manufacture.
The tire guy said you shouldn't be driving on a tire more than six years old.  Doesn't matter if it's never been used, don't do it.
Bruce enerdome wrote:

> For those of you considering  using those old tires with lots of > tread left, DON'T!
> I was moving my Coupe from one storage area to another
> yesterday. the left front looked a little soft, so I brought it up to 28 > Lbs or so. as i was sitting there a perfectly good LOOKING > sidewall started to bulge more and more. finally with a very loud > "BLAM" it blew a 8 inch hole in the sidewall!
> another thing I noticed as I am sandblasting rims and repainting > them is that if a tire has been on the rim a LONG time, they tend > to pit the rim at the bead area. i mounted a tire that looked great, > but had a pinhole leak. I finally went down to NAPA and got a can > of bead sealer(about 15.00). so far it works great, and have had > no further leaking.
> On another note, has anyone tried using the urethane
> windshield sealer yet as a motor mount
> repair?  did it work?
> I will be out working on my "organ donor" sedan this afternoon. if > you folks in the west see a large cloud of smoke to the East, it's > not a forest fire....it's a Honda that still runs (sort of) on the > original engine from 1971.

[dealadayray]

Hi Bruce;
It matters if the tire has not been stored properly.
Rubber is a hardened liquid, that really wants to go back to the liquid form it once knew.  They must be kept in a dark cool area, wrapped, laid on their side and turned every so often say year or less if not mounted.  If on the rim, they are to be standing up, on a double bar set up and again turned to prevent them from forming indentations.  With care a good tire can be mounted and used for many years.  But I have had a set of tires go bad after two years of just setting on one side.  The gravity causes them to flow and normally they will be out of round, heavy on one side and this causes considerable damage in a short time when they are mounted and put on a car.  What happened to your tires was most likely they were stored wrong, or if on your car then they were left open to the sun.  I have had the same tires on my Vette for 18 years, drives down the road just like the day I bought them.  I have new tires in storage for other Honda 600's that will be good to go on the day I want them.  It just takes a bit of care and they should be fine.
Bill

> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> Bruce Dewing
> [mailto:tralfaz42@...]
> Sent:
> Sunday, June 20, 2004 8:49
> AM
> To:
> 2cylinderhondas@yahoogroups.com
> Subject:
> Re:
> [2cylinderhondas] Old Tires
> I took a trip with two blowouts on the right front tire.  What > fun.  Just try to get a 10" tire in a hurry. The tire shop fed-ex'd Kumho > tires from the Tire Rack.  Now the important part, there is a date code > cast in the tire.  It's an oval mark with some (3? 4?) numbers on > it.  The last digit is the year of manufacture.
> The tire guy said you shouldn't be driving on a tire more than six years > old.  Doesn't matter if it's never been used, don't do it.
> Bruce
> enerdome
> wrote:
> > For
> > those of you considering  using those old tires with lots of > > tread > > left, DON'T!
> > I was moving my Coupe from one storage area to another
> > yesterday. the left front looked a little soft, so I brought it up to 28
> > Lbs or so. as i was sitting there a perfectly good LOOKING > > sidewall > > started to bulge more and more. finally with a very loud > > "BLAM" it blew > > a 8 inch hole in the sidewall!
> > another thing I noticed as I am
> > sandblasting rims and repainting
> > them is that if a tire has been on the
> > rim a LONG time, they tend
> > to pit the rim at the bead area. i mounted a
> > tire that looked great,
> > but had a pinhole leak. I finally went down to
> > NAPA and got a can
> > of bead sealer(about 15.00). so far it works great,
> > and have had
> > no further leaking.
> > On another note, has anyone tried
> > using the urethane
> > windshield sealer yet as a motor mount repair?
> > did it work?
> > I will be out working on my "organ donor" sedan this
> > afternoon. if
> > you folks in the west see a large cloud of smoke to the
> > East, it's
> > not a forest fire....it's a Honda that still runs (sort of) > > on the > > original engine from 1971.

[dealadayray]

You are correct, old tires that are weathered, cracked and were sitting
without air (Flat) normally will have problems. But, if you take care of
them they will last for a long time.
Bill