Tire Age PSA

[moparguy]

This Public Service Announce is related to tires. A tire story from two days ago that's still very fresh. I was returning home from a (800 mile each way non stop, sorta) trip to check on a pipeline company project I've taken on in my retirement. I was in the '95 Dodge 3500 about 200 miles west of Dallas Tx on I-20 and had a blowout on the right front tire. Speed was 70 and even though I had one hand securely on the steering wheel (as opposed to finger tips only) the truck immediately shot 10 feet to the right before I could wrestle it back under control, lots of noise and smoke. Had I been on a no shoulder road or had another vehicle been immediately on the right, it'd have been BAD.

The PSA component here is stay aware of and CHECK your tire age. The tire that blew on the front had about 30,000 miles on it and had just turned 6. The manufacture date was 3-13. Cold pressure was 75 psi and no previous repairs, brand was Michelin LTX which should be a great tire.

A lot of jurisdictions require tires to be no older than 5 years old when on the front, I've always felt that was a bit ridiculous since I've regularly ran tires much longer with no catastrophic failures. I've gone though several sets of BF GoodRich Liberator tires and usually at the 7 year mark they go on hay trailers. It's not uncommon for the tread to separate at about the 10 year mark. However due to the way we pull at low speed on secondary roads it's never been a problem. I've never had em blow.

The above said, it's to the tire shop tomorrow for new steer tires and one very good looking Michelin will be set-aside for trailer duty.

 

[Jon David]

Hello I have to agree on tire age,

here are a few photos of my tire that blew out at 66 mph on one of the hottest days of early summer of 2018. Outside air was about 95 degrees I can't imagine what the pavement temperature was the first blow out was just at the turn off southbound I-5 at Drain, Oregon.

Put the spare on and then had two more blowouts from Drain, OR to Wolf Creek, OR. just north of Sexton Mountain southbound on I-5.

Pre 1991.5 - 1991 Dodge D250 Cummins 300,000 miles on pickup

 

[Wiredawg]

I dont have any pics, but I have an age tire story too. My Ram 4500 was 7 years old and had approximately 50K miles on it, mostly towing. Ties about 8 years old. I hadrotated tires approximately ever 5K miles. Running solo local on I-10, right front tire threw tread. I immediately sourced replacements actually the dealer had best price on traction Continentals.

I had flawed judgement that 19.5s are commercial tires, and as long as looking good, would run longer. Wrong. Now, 5 years, period no matter how good they look.

Good post and good point!

Cheers, Ron

 

[GAmes]

I have a story too. I have an old Chev pickup that I customized about 30 years ago and over the years has become my beater truck for around town driving. Every now and then it is driven on the highway. A few months ago I happened to glance at the date tag and saw the Michelin LTX tires were over 10 years old, so went to the tire shop where I do all my business to have them replaced. The tire changer who has worked there for years came in to the waiting room to tell me that I was wrong, they weren't 10 years old. The date tag only had three digits, they were 20 years old. Time passes quickly for sure.

 

[Bill Lins]

here are a few photos of my tire that blew out at 66 mph on one of the hottest days of early summer of 2018. Put the spare on and then had two more blowouts from Drain, OR to Wolf Creek, OR

What brand of tire & how old was it?

 

[jgillott]

This Public Service Announce is related to tires. A tire story from two days ago that's still very fresh. I was returning home from a (800 mile each way non stop, sorta) trip to check on a pipeline company project I've taken on in my retirement. I was in the '95 Dodge 3500 about 200 miles west of Dallas Tx on I-20 and had a blowout on the right front tire. Speed was 70 and even though I had one hand securely on the steering wheel (as opposed to finger tips only) the truck immediately shot 10 feet to the right before I could wrestle it back under control, lots of noise and smoke. Had I been on a no shoulder road or had another vehicle been immediately on the right, it'd have been BAD.

The PSA component here is stay aware of and CHECK your tire age. The tire that blew on the front had about 30,000 miles on it and had just turned 6. The manufacture date was 3-13. Cold pressure was 75 psi and no previous repairs, brand was Michelin LTX which should be a great tire.

A lot of jurisdictions require tires to be no older than 5 years old when on the front, I've always felt that was a bit ridiculous since I've regularly ran tires much longer with no catastrophic failures. I've gone though several sets of BF GoodRich Liberator tires and usually at the 7 year mark they go on hay trailers. It's not uncommon for the tread to separate at about the 10 year mark. However due to the way we pull at low speed on secondary roads it's never been a problem. I've never had em blow.

The above said, it's to the tire shop tomorrow for new steer tires and one very good looking Michelin will be set-aside for trailer duty.

Keep in mind that Michelin had a recall on the LTX tires near the timeframe your tires were made. I'm not sure if this applies to your specific tire or not.


https://www.michelinman.com/US/en/help/safety-recalls/ltx.html

 

[NIsaacs]

Hello I have to agree on tire age,

here are a few photos of my tire that blew out at 66 mph on one of the hottest days of early summer of 2018. Outside air was about 95 degrees I can't imagine what the pavement temperature was the first blow out was just at the turn off southbound I-5 at Drain, Oregon.

Put the spare on and then had two more blowouts from Drain, OR to Wolf Creek, OR. just north of Sexton Mountain southbound on I-5.

Pre 1991.5 - 1991 Dodge D250 Cummins 300,000 miles on pickup

View attachment 112881 View attachment 112882

Those look a lot like my Toyo's: https://www.turbodieselregister.com/threads/toyo-tire-failure-bad.252001/

 

[Jon David]

What brand of tire & how old was it?

Was Bridgestone, (blow outs happened on 06/24/2018 ) Don't know the age as they were very good used when I received them, had them on the pickup for about 2 years. Replaced them with Hercules Terra Trac AT II $154 each mounted and balanced from Advantage Tire in Medford, OR. GREAT People can't say enough good about this company.

 

[GAmes]

The age is easily determined by the date code on the side of the tire.

 

[Jon David]

The age is easily determined by the date code on the side of the tire.

If you can get the date code off that photo, have at it, those tires made the rubber recycler unhappy as it was more of a bakelite than rubber. so Sorry don't know what the date code was. and when I said very good used, Well they looked good.

 

[GAmes]

I'll re-phrase. You could have easily determined their age by the date code.

 

[Jon David]

I'll re-phrase. You could have easily determined their age by the date code.

Ha, yea, I didn't think of it, was fighting a 4.5 hour trip that took 14 from Portland, OR to Medford and the age of the tire was the last thing on my mind.

 

[moparguy]

Keep in mind that Michelin had a recall on the LTX tires near the timeframe your tires were made. I'm not sure if this applies to your specific tire or not.


https://www.michelinman.com/US/en/help/safety-recalls/ltx.html

J, good point. Being an anal sorta guy, I did research recalls. Found a couple that were close, but my tires didn't fall in any of the recall slots. It was a LONG short sure that a 6 year old tire would get and respect, but I was gonna take the shot. It'a moot point now as the blow tire is in the reclaim pile and it's mate is in the hay trailer tire stack.