40 PSI and two blown tires in one week!
 

Also, someone keyed my car in between.

My tires are actually rated 36 PSI. I have only driven four thousand miles since purchasing the car and I increased the pressure to forty fairly recently. According to the second tire guy, the tires went out from dry rot, but there did seem to be some uneven wear, so I brought them down to thirty-six.

The first tire went out a few miles from my parents' house. I figure it would have gone out faster, but I try to maintain 55 MPH on level ground. The speed limit is 65 in many places, with two lanes.

The car sat in my parents' driveway, tempting miscreants, until I went to check the tire pressure before coming back down, when the valve stem blew.

Apparently, since I have a full-sized spare the first tire place just mounted the new tire and put it in the trunk.

The spare was at 12 PSI.

Maybe any other tire place would have put my second new tire in the trunk, but Wal-Mart was the only place open. They let me do it.

Crazy me, when I have dry-rotted tires blowing, I want new tires on the road!

If the tires were dryrotted in the least bit, there is your answer. Dry rotted tires scare me and even if they have brand new tread, I won't drive on a dryrotted tire.

I had tires on my truck rated for 44psi, inflated to only 40psi, and these 12 year old tire treads started to separate on me. Yes, you cannot operate OLD tires, they will fail regardless of inflation pressure.

Ask Frank Lee, myself, or many, many other people about using old tires. We've generally had exactly the opposite experience.

And for as many times as someone can say they've had bad experiences with old tires, there are equally bad experiences with new ones. The rubber isn't what holds a tire together, it's just what holds the air inside it.

If an underinflated tyre has stood still for long, you can / will get structural damage to the tyre carcass.

I like to extract the last possible mile outta tires. What good eco-minded person wouldn't? I don't consider blowouts and having to change tires that big an inconvenience- it takes only minutes. When I run "iffy" tires I make sure to have a good spare and tools on board. Even so, blowouts/flats are pretty rare; it's not like a daily occurance or anything.

The only exception I make is for the front of motorcycles (iffy rear tires OK).

Frank:

You a good for a laugh some days, and today is one day where I needed one.

Thanks

It only makes sense to wear out all you can safely on tires, they are not very recyclable and they cost a lot. I was planning on running my last set into the pavement but a good deal came up (~30% off or less then $100 per tire) and was from family so I took it and got new LRR tires.

Except I was serious this time!

I think Frank once had a blowout in his trunk!
:D
regards
Mech

You were, but it was still worth a laugh, "Even so, blowouts/flats are pretty rare; it's not like a daily occurance or anything." was a good line .

One time I actually blew the sidewalls apart on an "iffy" tire with a high pressure washer- serious delamination! And I wanted to put many more miles on 'er. :mad:

Ha- Oh, it was that bit! Sometimes I accidentally get a good one in there. One time my buddy and I came upon a '56 Nomad for sale... it was a COMPLETE rusted out P.O.S., practically the only salvageable bits on it were the roof and dashboard. Anyway the For Sale sign said something like $5000 and I said "He must just want to get rid of it"! :p

I used to think like you. I had a pair of nearly worn front tires that were >2/32nds. I couldn't see the top Lincoln's head when I placed the penny in the groove. Probably good for another couple thousand miles I figure. Then one night, it started raining as I drove home and I hydroplaned into the median. I paid the deductible to fix my car and then drove straight to the tire place to replace the not completely bald tires. My insurance went up but since my car was approaching self-insure-worth, I decided to drop down to liability only coverage. Wow, was that an expensive mistake.

You could argue I was just careless that night. I could also argue that if I had meatier tires, I would have cleared the water better and gripped the road better.

THe tires on my commutacar are over 20 years old and always have been.

When one fails (usually a slow but too fast for me leak through cracked sidewalls) I have to find another 20 year old spacesaver to fit.

The tires last quite long, despite their age but other types of old tires can be problems because you don't know the history on them, some seem to stay perfect for decades others start to rot out in a couple years and have the sidewalls blow.

I really hope that my two blow-outs in one week is extremely rare, but they were basically on consecutive uses.

How is this for a weird experience? When I was eighteen I borrowed my dad's Escort. I went to see a friend whose house was situated weird. I could and had done donuts in front and wanted to, but decided to be responsible. It had just started raining. This happened fifteen years ago and I just thought of this--the only possible explanation was that I held down the accelerator and not the clutch, cranked the wheels, turned the ignition, and suddenly my head was spinning. I had done a one-eighty, blowing out the tire on the curb, and bending the frame.

Old tires are fine, depending on condition. I know of people racing on 20+ year old tires at speeds around 300mph. It all depends on how they have been treated over the years. If exposed to harsh conditions, tires can begin failing in 7 years, maybe less.

Mine weren't. The tread separated. You should have felt the vibration in the steering. It was time to trash all four of them. Shame, because they had lots of tread depth, but they were hazardous.

I rode my 71 CB350 on the ORIGINAL tires for 200 miles. They were 40 years old and had sat flat since 1983. Wanted to make sure the oil wasn't going out the tailpipe before I paid for new tires. The bike did not run or move from 1983 until 2011. I did stay below 40 MPH. Just replaced the original (41 year old) points and condenser last week. The kid at the Honda dealer din't know what points were, had to show him in the microfilm.

regards
Mech

There's another good reason to put the best tires on the front.

My uncle blows tires every 3-6 months and they aren't cheap ones either. I think its more where and how you drive than anything.

That said I did have a very old spare tire that looked beautiful hit a curb slightly at low speed about 10 miles after that my truck was hopping like a bunny and the tire had a massive undulation.

Most of my troubles have been with belt shift on specific brands of steel belted radials, I do not believe more modern tires do this anymore also certain tires are more age resistant than others, the dealer provided energy savers on the cobalt are already showing weather marks and cracks, that and they are just about bald on the rear (never worried about rear tire condition only front)

What is a microfilm? :D

My dad probably replaces his tires every year. I imagine that some people on here change them more often. After everything, they wear out when you use them! :)

LoL, go to an older library.

Measure pressure when COLD, not after driving, but first thing in the morning. There are 2 tire pressure recommendations on any car:
1) Car manufacturer sticker located on the "B" pillar (between front and rear doors on driver side. This is the pressure recommended for the original tire size (e.g. 205x50x16) which is also on this sticker. This is for "best ride characteristics”… suspension is tuned for this setting. My opinion from testing, this doesn’t result in best mileage or wear.
2) Min – Max pressure on the tire sidewall. Tire manufacturer rating based on tire construction.
I set cold pressure exceeding tire max on sidewall by 5%. Why? When driving, tire sidewall flexes (squashes) between road surface on each revolution, causing heat. More pressure = less squash = less heat. Heat is calories (energy) and all energy comes from gasoline. I believe I get better mileage. I have never had a blow-out. Heat also warms the rubber and therefore accelerates wear. Tires wear on edges because each turn causes the outside tire to roll under to some degree. More pressure reduces “roll under” and therefore reduces edge wear.
So I feel the bumps a little more but save cash on tires and gas. Just another opinion, if you get my meaning.

I have had 4 blowouts in 13 years on my pickup. Two were Firestones and went for no apparent reason, the other two had some kind of damage such as a nail that cut the sidewall or a sharp rock puncturing the tread.

The only time I replaced tires before they were worn out or flattened was when I got a set that two of them would go severely out of round above 65mph and rattle the truck rather violently. They were rated for 50psi, I kept them at 45. It cost me an additional $300 in repairs because of the vibration. That was the last time I bought cheap tires.

Typically I run them till they start dry rotting, or the tread gets down to the wear markers.

A what?

Oh right. I just understood "older" and lost interest. That other word must be ye olde english or.

Back to YouTube... :D

The only blowouts I've had recently were after moving from DC to NM. Bought tires in DC and they worked fine out there. After the move we drove to El Paso, TX (170 miles) twice and blew a tire both times by throwing a tread. Seems the heat in TX was too much for the DC tires. Upgraded the heat/speed rating and didn't have a problem.

Causes of dry rotted tires

How to tell if tires have dry rot

I run 60psi and have yet to have a failure, even when I had old tires, partly because of luck and partly because I frequently inspect the tires. I have twice taken old tires out of commission because they were clearly on their way to failure.

james

re: the ehow site referenced above: I greatly dislike (make that despise) the ehow site because one has to wade thru way too much crap to get the general info on a topic! My rant for today.

eHow site simplified: (1) look for cracks on side of tire, (2) look for cracks on tread of tire, (3) if cracking, replace the tire. :)

I was a Michelin fanatic from 1965 until they denied my father in law a warranty claim with 90% of the tread left on his Michelins and it seems like Michelins dry rot faster that they did on my aunts Cadillac that lasted 13 years and 70k miles after the OE tires were bald at 6k miles (typical of bias plies 50 years ago).

Her Cadillac was garage kept and his Maxima was not and I think that is a huge factor.

Rode a 1971 Honda CB350 on the original tires when they were 40 years old, but the bike was garage kept since purchased new. Flat for 28 years, dry rotted in the tread and sidewalls. Just for 200 miles and never over 40 mph to see if the oil was going to run out of the tailpipe which meant the difference between scrapping the bike and resurrecting it. No oil consumption on the oil change that was 28 years old in the same 200 miles, so I put new tires on it rode it for a couple years and sold it for $2500, 10 times what I paid for it. Never replaced a single 40 year old light bulb in that bike.

The original tires on my GZ250 (Metzler) are NOT dry rotted and they were made early 2004. They hold air better than brand new tires and tubes on my 1965 Honda 50, so good I might try to get away with reusing the tubes when I swap the tires.

The $37.50 Douglas tires on the Sentra are doing great, looks like 1/32 wear in 8500 miles and they ride fine until I start smoking them in a turn, then they let me know they don't like it.

regards
mech