LocostUSA.com

Sit through the short commercial then watch the report. Some may know this but it's good for everyone to see even again.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897

my dads always told me this... also, there is this about windshields http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLTtkS23S64

Not just safety, but grip too. On the Mini Se7ens you could eeeeasily tell the difference between older & newer tyres. It was exaggerated even more on the wets.

As for the safety aspect, a tyre could blow out at any time regardless of its age. A lot of the time the car can be safely stopped when this happens, even at highway speeds. Better driver training could help in these kinds of incidents, but don't get me started on all that

I have aneighbor who is the head of the service department of a local dealer know for selling very safe European cars. He was complaining buitterly about the quality of tires these days. Said they had to put new tires on a car that had just been sitting in their lot for a few years, no mileage at all ( and not a lot of years either, less then five I think ). They are replacing tires all the time for safety reasons that still have enough tread...

Even the fountain of questions, how do you:
Determine if a tire is 2 years old, or as they claimed 12?
Old tires are a problem? They certainly offered no evidence. Lots of claims, no evidence.
Determine that a tire is no longer safe? I'm referring to the guy that replaces the tires and blames the manufacturers fo making crappy products.

Bill

they determine the age by looking at the date codes on the tire

this tire being made in the 51st week of 2007

Wow, now I'm worried. I just checked the date on the tires on my Locost and they were made in 1996! I bought them used (with rims) 2 years ago. The tires looked brand new. Even now, they still have tons of tread left on them. I don't really want to buy new tires....

Over the years, I've noticed on several sets of Michelins that they become very hard when they are old. This was on high wear rated tires.

I did have an old Michelin fail catastrophically on the van at 70 mph when towing the Locost. The front left tire (under my feet) at 60 psi let go with a big bang. It was 6 am near Atlanta when traveling to the 2005 Challenge in Gainsville. Tire carcass pieces landed in the cockpit of the Locost and one bent the rear fender.

I replaced both front tires in Gainesville before the return trip. There were newer tires on the rear.

Michelin only warrants the Pilot Sport 2 tires for six years. There's no mileage (only defects) warranty prorated by tread depth from 8/32" new to 2/32".

No more track time Jon ( maxlessica )!. The car is light so not much strain on the tires. I would keep an eye on them, if you can affort it get new ones this spring. Maybe a used set of Mustang tires? I think they start to come apart internally, the bonding between the layers can start to fail. I've heard this before in the last few years.

You can feel when a tire starts getting older. A fresh tire has an oily, tacky feel. Older tires feel dry and glassy, even if they have never been on the ground.

The old tires can be fun to play on in a vacant parking lot!!!!!!

This topic is irrelevant.
If you aren't wearing out your tires in less than two years on your "fun" car you are doing something seriously wrong


If you don't have cracks or bulges in your tires (look in the tread and the sidewall), and they aren't so hard that driving in the wet is scary (like my S10 ) do not worry about the age of the tire. If you are tracking the car I would suggest new rubber regardless. You will enjoy it more anyways.

More common causes of tires failing are: damage from debris/nails/impacts. Poor patches (should use a combi-plug or nothing), and under-inflation. Most tires that do fail suddenly seem to be caused by a cut or puncture that isn't repaired correctly (or at all) allowing moisture and air into the steel belts. The belts rust and SURPRISE!

Anyhow, yes old tires are worse than new tires. But I don't think we need to be too scared.

Cheers,
Cory

PS: My tires were made in 2010; 3wks before they got to my door. Just one more reason why I used the same tire as the Spec Miata guys

I do have another set of tires for the track. They are Toyo Ra1's, which are absolutely fantastic on the track. They have so much grip when they are hot. However, they are almost bald and I don't think the the tires will past the technical inspection required for me to be allowed on the track.

I am willing to look for tires that are suitable for the road and the track, but I don't see any tires that I would be happy to put $1000 towards. I don't want to spend much money. My car gets driven about 6000km a year (rain or shine) and I like to take it to the track a couple of times a year. Most competition tires will be great for the track, but it will have a short life, it will be noisy on the road, it will have a high cost and I may not feel safe driving it in the rain. Any tire that can perform well in the wet will not be as good on the track. I like the Toyo Ra1's, but they have been discontinued. The replacement for them isn't as good.

I've kept an eye out for used tires on the internet, but good deals on the right tires are rare.

I'd just like to point out 2 things. ..

1)Tires oxidize just like every other product made from volatile chemicals. Try sealing one in a chamber for a week at 70 degrees, you'll be able to smell the tire when you crack it open, that's volatile vapors clogging up your nose and the result of decomposition due to oxidization.
2)rubber experiences UV damage whether vulcanized or not, this increases the oxidization rate.

If a tire sidewall has a bunch of cracks it has already passed its "use by" date.
Cracks don't happen until it has developed hard spots. .. and you will not pass tech inspection on any track I've ever been on.

Last year I replaced the tires on the Honda because they were 8 years old (no sidewall cracks and still had legal tread), put on another set of Michelin MXV's because the last set worked so well. .. what a difference in handling and comfort even though it was the EXACT same tire.
Granted it only sees about 8k miles/year but would you want your significant other having a blowout or rear ending someone because the tire was too stiff to maintain grip?

The RA1 was put back into production last year in some sizes because no one liked the R888. I can't find the list of what sizes though....

If your street tires look good (no cracks/rot), and perform well enough to do emergency maneuvers on the street I wouldn't worry about them. Certainly not replace them with a cheap, or another used tire (both of which tend to be hard and terrible anyways). I wouldn't be afraid to autoX them either. Track days..... not so much. You just build too much heat and load them too hard. I would suggest another set of track tires and leave the street tires. It is pretty rare for a tire to have massive failure w/o warning signs (cracks, bulges, belts visible). I would say even more rare on a feather-weight locost.

Cheers,
Cory

even so, i always try to lean towards safety first, if you think the tires may need to be replaced, dont hesitate. change those tires. it could save your life (assuming you are a safe driver) its much better to pay a little extra to know your tires wont fail... when the concord and many airplanes and SUV's were having tire problems, you tended to stay away from specific tires because they may be problematic. if some testing has proven that older tires can be unsafe, why would you not use the same judgment and just get some new tires?