This should put to rest the question of should you trust old tires with hardly any mileage on them even if they don't appear dry rottted. YOU SHOULDN'T!

Ok...so here's the story....(as my project goes into its 2nd decade)...I had a set of Performer GT Radials (by Laramie) with maybe a year or so of use when the car came off the road in '90. Perhaps... 5 - 7k miles on em if that. One day around 4-5 years later I was pulling it out of the garage and the front right tread just PEELED away without warning and no cracks in the tire to even indicate dry rot. Tires were around 6 yrs old at the time. It spent one year in the driveway (covered with a tarp and a cover) and the next 4 in the garage so it wasn't from the sun! (maybe combination of ozone and POOR construction)!

The year the car sat outside the neighborhood cats ruined my nice 14" chrome rims. I purchased a new set of 15" rims and another set of Performer Laramie radials and they were waiting in the garage for the resto to get further along or completed (if I Only knew)!! After the front tire peeled. I installed the new (by then 4 year old) tires and rims.

Fast forward 15 years or so to today! A few months ago to be exact and I discover I've got a bulging front tire!! I might've missed it had the front right fender not been off. Check the photos. The tire is BULGING at the front and top while the tread facing the rear of the car is still near normal looking. The tread at the top actually has a wave going through it front to back! I've never seen a tire do this before no less one with hardly any mileage on it. The other 3 tires appear fine except for some discoloring of the white letters. (though I know theyre history too)

YEAH...the (new) tires are 18-20 years old now and mounted for around 15yrs ...and YES its MY FAULT for buying em way too early (it actually started as an engine replacement not a major resto project)!! Those (old/new) tires only have maybe 100 miles on them ...plus they've been garaged the entire time! I've seen ORIGINAL 60s tires on barn finds or tires from the 70s that were garaged that still look near new!! Now I wouldn't trust them to drive more than a few miles if that...but C'MON...you'd think rubber compounds and tire construction has gotten BETTER since the 60s and 70s...NOT WORSE! I've got tires peeling at 7k miles and bulging at 100 miles in my garage!! I can't even pull it out now for fear the tires gonna burst!! I'm thinkin this is brand specific...especially given what I've read about Laramie belt separation online. All I can say is at least it happened in my garage and NOT while I was driving!!

Sooo BE WARNED!! Inspect those tires on that project that's been sitting in your garage carefully for bulging or cracking BEFORE you take it out on the road! And know that just because they might LOOK new or have very few miles on them...hardly used older tires MIGHT fail without warning! I can't say how many years they'll ACTUALLY be good for and mine are admittedly very old...but low mile good looking tires DOESN'T = safe!

My advice ...If at all possible...DON'T BUY those new tires unless you can see light at the end of the tunnel where your project is concerned. The money might end up wasted! $350 down the toilet for me and at least $400-500 to replace now PLUS mount and balance! If you do plan to keep it tagged and on the road though...even for short trips or occasional weekend joy rides....don't chance old rubber. If it's time it's time and a few hundred (ok several hundred) bucks worth of tires are a lot less costly than risking your classic car...or your life! It's either on the road and safe...or OFF!

Stay safe all!

number 2

I've sold a couple old Goodyear GR60-15's, popular on late 70's cars, and have made a point of saying, remember, you're buying a 30 year old tire. Use accordingly

I replaced the trires on my shorty last week for the same reason. They probally had 95% tread remaining and less than 5000 miles. They had no effects of being bad but common sence said to change them..

From Tirerack.com

'It is important to take into account Original Equipment tires are mounted on wheels and put into service right after being received by vehicle manufacturers, so their calendar age begins immediately. However the same cannot be said of tires properly stored in a tire manufacturers' warehouse or in Tire Rack distribution centers before they go into service. Properly stored tires that are protected from the elements and not mounted on a wheel age very slowly before they are mounted and put into service.

Our experience has been that when properly stored and cared for, most street tires have a useful life in service of between six to ten years. And while part of that time is spent as the tire travels from the manufacturing plant to the manufacturer's distribution center, to the retailer and to you, the remainder is the time it spends on your vehicle.'

some good reading about how to determine the age of your tires - after 5 years you should just consider them junk:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

I have a set of Sears tires on a Valiant, installed in 1976, so far, so good.

I have a set of F70x14 tires that were on a car I bought in 1982, tire age unknown, probably from the late '70s. I had them on a car trailer loaded with a 6000lb JD tractor, they never failed. I now use 2 of them on a single axle 5x10 utility trailer, the other 2 are spares but haven't needed them.

But all the tires that were made in the '80s, '90s, '00s that I have run, and were 5 to 10 years old when I was using them, 30% of them have had tread seperation or cord/belt failure. Around 20 failures in 15 years. Just in the last 2 months I've had 2 cord failures, 1 tire from the late '90s, 1 from the early '00s, both had less than 8K miles on them.

I have had really bad luck with older tires. One was about 10 years old, tread peeled right off on Vail Pass, not so fun driving on the steel belt!

I have also had three BFGoodrich Radial All-Terrains with tread separation, all 10+ years old with good tread. Coincidentally, all three were in Monument Valley. That darn coyote!

So I have learned the hard way. Don't buy tires at the beginning of a project, and old tires aren't worth the risk.

R.

I had the exact same type of failure with a Goodyear Eagle ST tire. Good tread, but likely 20+ years old. I could tell they were getting hard by the lack of traction.

tire break down is EXACTLY why my car is still waiting. my rear Mickey Thompsons dry-rotted from sitting. $700 for the pair. ouch!

What really sucks is a set of repro Polyglass GT's. I have a set on my car that are 20 years old now early 90's, but look new. Probably not 4,000 miles on them. I would hate to have to replace them $$$.
But I do worry about when I go for a drive now.

I have some Goodyear Eagle GT's on some patrol car rims that came off a late '80's Diplomat patrol car.

They are serving duty playing in the 'hood until I get some stickies mounted on my 15x8 steelies. When I do a burnout with them they turn into dust! No traction whatsoever! LOL!

I have good tires on the front, though!

I still have the original 1969 G70x15's on my A12. In 1993, I set an NMCA national record @109 mph with the original tires on the front! Just lucky that nothing went wrong I guess! I only use them for show now but no bulges or anything. They are definitely hard and dry but look good. I have a set of T/A radials and Weld Pro Stars if I really get the urge to cruise. I would say the tires that the OP had the tread just peel off were not very high quality tires even if they were old. I would never buy that brand again after that experience.

Are you sure those are faulty from age? Had the 15" tires ever been mounted before?

It looks to me like a broken, or slipped, belt. That could have been a defect when new.

While I do agree old tires are not a good choice.

Two years ago on my tow truck during an bi-annual safety inspection I was notified that one of the dully rear tires was getting ready to loose its tread.I drove it home and parked it,within months of I had two tires tread let go. They only had 1000 miles on them in ten years. I replaced all six at a $1200 cost, and hope to get ten years out of them.

When I do drive one of my cars I hate the sound of flat spot from where the cars tires sat and not moved.

So I now store my cars on jacks so the tires are off the ground. I use blocks under the rear axle to raise it enough to get the rear tires off the ground. In the front I use a pair of scissors jack under the lower control arms. Doing this keeps the car suspension loaded and the tires off the ground.

my left front tire just started to split...all 4 tires are about 26 years old...garaged car all this time..just out on nice days and a few not so nice....time for new ones..she's grounded for the winter recess....not worth blowing up and doing some body damage....