You may or may-not know all tires have a date of manufacture molded into the sidewall of the tire. The accepted policy is that any tire over 5 years old should be replaced due to the potential of the tire rotting,cracking or splitting. In my case the tires are 8 years old, still over 8/32 tread remaining and no signs of deterioration. Does anyone follow this or just run till the tread is done.
It depends on the tire. If it's just tires on a daily driver, I don't see an issue as long as there's no ozone cracks on the side walls. Snow tires, or any performance tire that relies on the softness of the rubber then I would be more concerned. The tires on my street rod are now 7 years old, and at the price of them there's no way I'm replacing them anytime soon. Just my opinion.
Prowler guys run into this a lot. 12 to 15 year old tires with a few thousand miles on them. They are runflats to boot. Many replace with non-runflats just to improve the ride.
I personally think a lot of it has to do with the tire companies and the dollar signs in their eyes that are pushing this age thing.
Rubber Co. brought this up as a saftey concern & the media jumped all over it, web sites started blowing off that if your tires are 5 yrs. old you "HAVE" to change them "NOW" I had a car guy from Oshawa see this & went out & replaced all the tires on his 41 Graham street rod that had 3000 mi. on them "cause they were 5 yrs. old" Sits in the garage, hardly sees daylight & tires were perfect!!! But the HYPE worked on him & I'll bet the tire store "SOLD" his old tires to another customer!!!
__________________
I can only please one person a day, Today is not your day!!Tomorrow doesn't look good either !!!!
Safety check standards will fail a tire for low tread, or cracking....
Other than doing a safety,
If they are cracked and radial, they will not let go, without starting to bulge and shake ( other words, they will give you warning)
If they are bias and cracked... replace....
Carl is right on the money !! It's for warranty purpose and also for liability. Not to go off on a tangent, but automotive paints have a 6 month shelf life, even though some products are still good 20 years later. I painted my truck last year, and the date code for the primer was 1997, and the clear was 2001. Went on perfectly and still looks perfect today.
Not to get off on another tangent but the situation in Quebec is another dollar sign in the eyes of the tire makers. I plowed snow for 25 years with all season tires and never got stuck once. Never had an ice incident or stopping incident in all that time, driving in the worst of weather. I did always have 4 wheel drive mind you, but I don't buy these winter tires. No tread on them.
