I bought my car 13 years ago. It still wears the tires the previous owner had on it. I drive mostly surface streets (very rarely on the freeway) 45-50 mph maximum. I drive it less than 1,000 miles per summer. Tires "look" OK. What would you do?

Same as you, drive on 'em. Mine have been on for 14 years I've had it. Dad has at least one on his '70 that has antique status, it's at least 25 years old. Next time I see the car I'll have to remember to look at the date code.

Robert

Also same as you. I put BFG T/A's on my car 16 yrs ago. Have maybe 5000 miles on them now at best. Tires still look brand new. Of course the car is garage kept so the tires don't see much sun light, and I always keep them dressed with some kind of tire dressing to prevent dry rot. You should be fine.

Tires on my daily driver are that old. No issues so far.

Mine are about 10 years old, like new, with 6K miles on them.. I always thought the same about sun being the culprit, which it is a problem, but lately been reading about the compound drying out and the oils in them dissipating.....

I hate to spend the money on new tires but I do have concerns about mine..........

It not just sun that can cause damage. The glue inside can fail over time. I had 2 BFG failures:

1)Tires were pushing 18 years old on my ’71 GTX. Looked perfect on the outside, tons of treat left. Vehicle only driven to cruises, etc under 65 mph usually. One day about 1 mile into my ride felt a strange sensation, like a driveshaft or u-joint, or tire low on air. Wasn’t too strong, but concerning. Got out looked around at the tires to see if maybe one was low on pressure, all appeared ok. Got back in and another 3 miles or so at 55mph and got a sudden wild vibration and then as I was slowing down BANG. Right rear tire let go. Lucky it did not take out my ¼ or wheel lip molding. It was like the layers inside just let go in a section.

2)These tires were on my driver Cordoba, which I used a lot up to about 20K miles then the car sat for about 10 years and saw occasional use (parked indoors). Again tires looked perfect, but had 20K of wear on them as expected. Decided to take to work one day and at 70 mph I had a hopping in my front end that was unreal. Pulled over and looked at my tire and it was literally twisting. The tread was wobbled over like 1” about ¼ way around. I put on the spare and got to work. The belt shifted over, which I again think was due to internal failure of the bonding glue inside. Got all 4 new tires, which stunk, since they are 245/65/15, which I found out are hard to find.

So my experience is different than others. I did put BFGs back on, since I cant say it was an inherent failure, but now I am more cautious about age of tires.

trailer tires are different--must replace them every 5 years---they seem to be made to explode---my friend ordered up a new set for his trailer because they had expired---he set the old ones next to garage trying to give the tires and rims away (still looked good)in the next 3 months 3 of the tires just blew up just sitting there in the sun----he then threw them away.....

Oh, and I had a trailer tire explode on me too. 5 year old Goodyear Marathon, made in USA. That was a royal PITA to change on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere in SD.
I have great luck with tires.

I have had brand new tires blow out within 100 milesThe key is common sense if the tires looked dry rotted change them but i will not change a tire due to age By the way I was told I spun them on the rim as all muscle cars do that yea right anything to get out of admitting they were faulty tires

Do you put the dressing on the tread and inside sidewall? If not you are only doing 1/3rd of the tire.

I knew I'd maybe catch some slack on this post. But like I said, my tires are 16 year old BFG T/A's. Have maybe 4000 miles on them if that. Car sits in garage most the time, gets about 250 miles a year put on it to car shows. Tires look brand new still with no weather checking at all, and to answer someones question, YES I do dress both sides of the tire but not the tread part once a year at least. Personally I can't see replacing a set of tires like this until I start seeing problems with them. In a couple more years I may think about new ones.

I've driven and done burnouts on original tires that were 50 years old.

I would not recommend traveling very far or going very fast in a situation like that. However, it depends a lot how the car/tires were stored.

MY BFG radials are 21 years old. Still look like the day I had them put on. Probably 5K miles on them. I have been wondering too about aging as I have read quite a bit in the last year. Still keep rolling the dice I guess...

On since 1992,can't tell them from new.

NO. I'd buy new ones. Hit a pothole or a curb and the tread can separate and just whip around and cause all kinds of damage. I don't trust the 6 year old tires on my current daily driver. That being said, I'm not there looking at your tires and driving conditions.

The issue, as I see it is what might happen if a tire fails? A set of tires is around $600 give or take. How much damage can a tire do that comes apart at 30 mph? I've seen tires nearly rip a quarter off, or destroy a front fender when they come apart. That would really suck on a pristine original or correctly restored or a nice show car.

So to borrow a phrase from Clint Eastwood, "Do you feel lucky, Punk?"
Is the cost of a set of tires worth the cost to repair the damage an old tire might cause if it should fail?

I took a set of 15 year old Michelin's off my coupe before I went on vacation. This was a car that saw regular highway speeds and hours of driving at a time before vacation. I figured all the advantages of a set of new tires was worth the expense before departing on my vacation, and I would be able to choose what tires I wanted to buy. That option might not exist a couple hundred miles from home.

I don't have an issue with tires that still looked good that were 7 or 8 years old, but even my 15 year old Michelin's were starting to make me nervous. BF Goodrich tires sucked when they were new (I worked in a tire shop back then). One other thing I was a bit concerned about was, how old were the "new" tires I was getting put on? Seems there should be some kind of law prohibiting a tire company from selling 4 year old new tires, but there isn't. Where I bought my new tires, they had the date codes for all 4 written on the bill, I'm not sure if everyone does that or not. Gene

Good luck!

Also the tire dressing stuff, at least according to Michelin, accelerates breakdown of the rubber. Not recommended for tires that may be kept for a "while". Looks nice and little harm on DD tires that wear out and are changed every 2-3 years but not good for long casing life.

Earlier this spring I had to replace 4 tires that the sidewalls split out on the insides where the sun doesn't shine. Had no idea they were cracked until I took them off. Outside sidewall and tread were in great shape. Tires were bought new at the end of 2012.

Tire store owner said passenger car tires made these days should be replaced about 6 years +/-.

There is a simple test you can do on tires:

1. On a new or fairly new tire, depress the tread with your thumb and notice how pliable and soft it is. It should be soft and pliable and there should be no cracking.

2. Do the same test on your old tires and compare results. If still soft, you're probably reasonably safe for moderate speeds that don't heat up the tire as much as high speeds.

If the tread on the old tires is quite hard and rigid, the ride will be more harsh and will make more tire noise. And if there are also cracks, failure is more likely than if it were soft with no cracks.

The temporary spare in my 1989 daily driver's trunk is more than 27 years old. It's still soft with no cracks. No plans to replace it.

Truthfully,
We all know new or nearly new tires fail. Putting on fresh tires is not a guaranty of no failure or damage.
You do know the old ones have proven that they were built right and only will succumb to time and the elements.
If the car is garaged out of the sun, tires will last a long time.
Check for cracks, bulges or bubbles before you make the call to buy or drive on.