Life of drag Slicks ?

I know this sounds strange to the guys that make 100s of passes a year, but what I am asking is, are drag slicks no longer safe to use after 6 years ?

I only have about 17 runs total on my car and tires, but they have been on the car a long time.
There are no signs of dry rot and they rarely have been in the sunlight.
What is the life in years for these tires ?
Thanks,
Mark

They lose the natural oil that keeps them soft. Think of the rubber molecules like fresh, wet spaghetti, then dried out spaghetti. At four years old and maybe 30 passes, i may have lost .02 60 ft. It is tuff to through away what looks like a good tire, but IMHO it is time.
One other thought. Some guys switch out trailer tires sooner than that, and hopefully they aren't going as fast😀

My Cuda had a set of 6+ yr old Goodyear 17x3x15 on it when I got it, the sidewalls had one ply showing cracks at the middle of the sidewalls, they still hook my little 700 HP bracket motor, even with the original 5:86 gears in the back
My message is to try them but be careful if they get loose after the starting line

If you are going to seriously race this car you should start with good information. Get new tires.

Thanks for the replies. I used 6 years as an example as that seems to be the standard for street tires and motorcycle tires.
My slicks are unfortunately older than that. I was warned I might have a blowout so I wanted another opinion.

Thanks,

Mark

It also depends on prior use, ours hits the tyre hard (Bias ply) and the sidewalls are gone after 30 passes with plenty of depth left on the indicators. A friend insisted he take them to use on his 496 street / strip 55 Chev rather than me donate them for sledding, he couldn't make a proper pass
Car runs better with radials but early days so we have no idea on longevity.
Best start from a known "datum".

The rubber decays from ozone (near any electrical device) and sunlight, and also "gasses out" in which the oil is released from the compound. If they don't smell the oil is gone and taken the sulfur with it.
Storage in a pressurized bag slows/stops all 3.

I’ve run a set older than that. Do they run tubes? If so, I’d give them a good visual inspection. If they look to be in good shape, I’d run Em and watch them real close.

I found the receipt from the tire purchase and it had no date. I checked my build pictures and the new wheels and these tires were on the car in 2005 ! So they were 8 years old when I made the passes in my signature ! That makes them about 14 years old now !
I have been running them tubeless.
Thanks,
Mark

Also depends on the burnouts. Guys that sit there and make clouds of smoke are getting the tires too hot and they don’t works as good after doing this over and over. Some smoke is all they need. I use older tires stored indoors.

Hoping to take the dart to the track this spring with some hoosier qtp dated 2009.

Does anyone sell these bags?

what about one of those contraptions sold on late night tv that uses a vacuum pump kinda thing ? you put a bunch of folded blankets in a big bag, then it sucks the air out. used for storage of your "extra stuff". i don't know if the bags would be big enough though.