Remember my blog the day before yesterday titled: “Wondering about your tires”? In that blog I stated that the four tires that I took off the Jeep looked almost new except for some tread wear. That statement was correct; there were no apparent weathering cracks that I could see. These tires had been driven on almost every day.
Now, I looked at the spare tire this morning. This tire is the same age as the ones I took off the four wheels. The difference is the weathering cracks. The spare is not a safe tire to drive on. I will only use it for short term emergency use.
Don’t believe me? Here are three pictures that I took this morning of my spare tire:
If this doesn’t make my point of what happens to a tire after 6 or 7 years, I don’t know what will. This tire was never used and it will be 7 years old sometime this year.
The difference between this tire and the ones that I drove on was that the rubber got flexed while in use. This helped prevent the observable cracking, but the integrity of the tire would have been dropping off rather quickly.
I was lucky in one respect. The tire dealer told me that the tires on my Jeep where manufactured only a month before the Jeep. He said that is the exception rather than the rule. Depending on the popularity and the market, a lot of tires sit in warehouses for long periods of time after they are manufactured. The tire makers produce tires in batches. They can not afford to tool up to produce just a few tires of one kind, so when they need to make a certain tire size and model, they make a lot of them and then store them. Makes business sense.
So, check the manufacture date of your tires and try to replace them after they reach 7 years old or before if you see signs of failure. And, check the manufacture dates on any new tires that you purchase.
I want you to be safe out there.
I would drive that tire across country! Of course I am also not bothered by a red light or two on, on the dash as it keeps me from getting sleepy on long drives.
ReplyDeleteDD, in my world the spare is at least as important than the regular tires. I will only need the spare when it is critical to my safety or getting out of out of the way places. Therefore my spare tires are always in better shape than my normal tires.
ReplyDeleteThe spare tire is of the most import to me, as I'm always thinking of things in the worse case scenario!
ReplyDeleteLike you, I wouldn't drive with it unless I absolutely had to!
Good advice this morning!
Hey, I think so highly of 'spare tires' that I carry one at all times 'around my waste!!' LOL,
ReplyDeleteI just can't 'Hepp it' as they say in Texas!
These things just come right on out of my mouth before my brain even suspects it! Hee, hee hee!
Frann, yes, if I were not planning on taking any trips, I wouldn’t have put new tires on the Jeep, but the motor-home needed them and I have no place for a spare on it and couldn’t change it even if I did. So why not get all of them at the same time.
ReplyDeleteBarney, actually I didn’t realize that the spare was so weathered. Let’s hope I don’t need it.
Hermit, it seems the older I get the more I think of the worst that could happen. Before that, my wife did all the worrying, and still does 98 percent of it.
Ernest, hope your “spare tire” ain’t as weathered and cracked as mine (grin).
I got an idea, I think everyone should load their Tires to TFFNGUY and if they last 30 days then they are a good tire. HEHE he has the worst luck with tires of anyone I know. lol
ReplyDelete