Tire Dry Rot

[rthomas]

Many auto dealers now seem to agressively sell tires in addition to regular service. At my last service on my Ram 3500 dually, I was called and told my OEM tires had dry rot and need to be replaced. The tires have about 30K miles on them, and they are about 5 years old. There is plenty of tread left. There is "checking" or small "cracks" on the sidewalls. the tires do not seem to leak air, so how do you know when to replace them?

 

[WCPoe]

A couple of thoughts

Rthomas, my wife's aunt's husband had an older Ford F150, (unfortunately I don't the year, maybe ten years old) which had very few miles on it since he was retired. The tires had superb tread. However, he had a sudden blowout and rolled the truck on the Interstate in Alabama heading towards Montgomery, AL. He was only slightly injured and shaken up. After all was said and done, the police indicated the tires were the cause, all showing dry rot. This truck always remained outdoors and was subject to the typical ozone sunlight damage.

On the other hand, my truck is nearly five years old with only about 47,000miles. I'm retired but my truck spends most of it's time in my climate controlled shop and the tires look near new on the outer and inner sidewalls. I'll be in the market for new rubber this fall because I'm near the wear bars on the tread.

If I were you I wouldn't push the envelope. Hence, if you tow heavy or such I would probably consider some new rubber. Otherwise, if you just using it as a to and from work vehicle you may be able to stretch it out a bit longer.

However, my past experiences tell me to just ante-up and buy the tires. Just my 2 cents.

 

[PToombs]

Maybe you should check this out. https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/towing-hauling-rv-forum/203039-old-tires-sold-new.html I haven't followed the link, as I need to get my butt to bed, but I'll look at it tomorrow. Sounds like info that could help.

 

[AMink]

Trailer and RV tires are infamous for failure at low miles/high years. Because they tend to sit for extended periods of time, the rubber doesn't get "exercised", thus keeping oils in the rubber compounds moving around. One of the networks did an expose on how tires that are several years old are being sold as new and MIGHT be the cause of numerous blowouts and accidents. I wouldn't chance it. I had a trailer tire fail while it was just sitting in my yard. No dry rot, lots of tread, about 5 or 6 years old. POP!

 

[Missouri Mule]

Cracks on the side of the tire are not good and could cause the tire to go flat/blow out. I believe they recommend 4 years max for tires.



I've had trailer tires (utility trailer) my Tire Man told me I had to change out be cause of cracks on side wall.

 

[rbattelle]

All 5 of my tires have little tiny cracks in the sidewall. Been that way for at least 3 years. I run them at 65 psi up front, and 55 psi out back.

I don't worry about those micro cracks in the outer surface.

Ryan

 

[rthomas]

Thanks to all who responded. I'm gonna replace all tires based on their age.

 

[GAmes]

The tires may be older than the truck. The date they were manufactured can be determined by finding the DOT code (usually only printed on one side of the tire so you may have to get under the vehicle). The last 3 or 4 digits are the date they were made. For instance 319 shows the tire was made the 31st week of 1999. IIRC all tires made after 2000 have 4 digits so 5002 means the tire was made in Dec of 2002. Some tire makers recommend replacing the tire as early as 5 years after manufacture and most recommend no longer than 7.

 

[WCPoe]

Video on old tires

Here's a video of investigations concerning old tires:

ABC News



You'll have to endure the leader advertisement, however.

 

[donnier]

FWIW, the michelin website has some info regarding this subject.

We just bought a MH and after I got it home and got to looking at it more closely, I found the fronts and the two outer tires had small cracks on them.

The MH only had 3500 miles on it and the tires had a lot of tread left.

I looked at the year they were manufactured and found they weremade in the 14 week of 04.

I got them changed out on my last trip to Utah.

 

[Bill Stockard]

Yep, I'm faced with the same decision. My truck was built in March of '03. The tires have a DOT date of 0703 which means they are about the same age as the truck. There are no sidewall cracks or weather cracking and lots of tread left. The truck has a little over 35K miles on it, is only used to haul a heavy slide-in truck camper. When not on the road, it's parked in my climate controlled shop.



Before my next trip, I too plan to replace the tires.



Bill