Very Old Spare tyre

If you are worried, Lorne, then change it and stop worrying. Change it ........... and relax !!

Cheers
Jim

HI Lorne S1

I have always been told by tyre manufactures that they should be replaced after 6 years no matter how much tread is on them.
So I would buy a new one and get rid of both.
Good luck
Ed

Lorne, my limit for outback is 5 years of age (mine seldom last that long anyway lol). At 15 years of age, the compound will indeed be brittle and you will probably find radial cracking running around the tyre near the lip of the rim fairly soon. If you have to run the tire on low pressures, this will exacerbate the problem.

Additionally, tread is more likely to delaminate causing all sorts of issues. Heaven help you with a tyre coming apart at speed.

A new BFG A/T's start from $190 . Spend a couple of hundred bucks on a replacement tyre for peace of mind. If you can't part with it, put your old tyre on the garden trailer (not a trailer that you cart all round Australia or a caravan for that matter).

Regards

Mick

Definitely replace it.

It depends on how it's been stored. If it's been stored in the sun, then it probably needs replacing.

But if it's been stored under a vehicle or in a boot all that time, then I see no reason to scrap it.

I have tyres that are over 20 years old and still performing satisfactorily. But they haven't been in strong, direct, hot sunlight for lots of years.

And a spare that has never been on the road, has never been flexed, and never endured any road impacts.

The life of a tyre is dependent on the life it has led.
If the 15 yr old tyre has endured 15 yrs of road impacts and constant flexing - then yes, it's at the end of its life.

You would probably be surprised at the age of a lot of tyres coming towards you on the highways.
The manufacturers have a vested interest in selling new tyres, and therefore want you to scrap perfectly good tyres that are 15 yrs old.

A tyre with 100% tread is more capable of taking road shocks and impacts, than one with 20% tread.

I've never seen a satisfactory-looking tyre fall apart or blow up with age - unless it already showed very obvious signs of rubber ageing.
Those signs are tiny cracks in the rubber, that indicate perished rubber, or cracking circumferentially around the bead, or long cracks in the sidewall.

Most tyres fail because they have received a severe impact that has damaged the casing plies, or a crack or other tyre damage has uncovered steel plies, and the steel has rusted.

Tyres are built with enormous safety margins - if they weren't, we'd be seeing a vast amount of accidents caused by blown-out tyres.

Many truck tyres are retreaded at up to 6 or 7 yrs old. That means the retreader expects the tyre to perform satisfactorily for a number of years yet.
This is after the tyre has already been worn out once.

Interestingly, there are no regulations or guidelines for retreaders, as regards the age of the tyres they retread.
It's up to the individual retreader to choose whether they retread a tyre that is over 6 yrs old.
A tyre in good condition, that is 6 or 7 yrs old, will more than likely be retreaded.

And that same tyre will be alongside you on the highway, carrying a full load of up to around 4 tonnes, at 100kmh, at possibly 10 or 12 yrs of age.

Cheers, Ron.

There was a time , and 'some' still do buy their tires and put them in the 'shed' to age a bit , a year or so , those advocating that you 'must' get new tires every 5 years must have too much money or shares in tire companies , Question , how do you know that the 'new' tires you just bought are in fact not already 3+ years old sitting in the tire sellers warehouse ? Answer , you don't unless you 'google' the manufacturers 'date' system stamped on the tire...... best practice = 5 wheel rotate AND 5 new ones when the time comes .....

It is stuffed, it is dangerous and the best place for it is the local tyre cemetery.

We travelled with an old owner driver friend who would use and repair his old and worn tyres. Well what a pain in the butt that was, because he was always either repairing the bloody things or replacing the blown ones.

Treat yourself to a new one.

.
Why do you think that they are called a "TIRE"?

Because they do, tire that is. Progressively and relentlessly. Tyres do tire.

Put new tyres on, drove ½ way around Australia.

At Weipa decided to rotate the two good looking spares (80% tread) to the rear rims.
Both weren't probably more than 4 years old but had been used before being relegated to be the spares.

2 days later on rough corrugations one tread de-laminated, the next day the other one went the same way.

I don't know why that happened, maybe it was just a co-incidence?

(Why shouldn't we be able to correct someone who errs. In this country it is a tyre.
Google translate says that 'tyre' in Afrikaan is 'Bull. Should we call a failed tyre Bullsh.t)

https://youtu.be/-WzBf6iokFY

He may drive you mad (guaranteed actually) but he knows his stuff . Worth a read anyway.
If you can't be bothered looking at the whole article start at 28.50 minutes in.

Old tyres add to the wonderful memories of that big tour around Aus.
150 km north of Mt Isa when a 12 year old tyre on my 18ft single axle van decided to de-laminate. That was very exciting.
Dave.

Over 5 years chuck them. Always feels good driving off from the local tyre dealer with 4 brand new tyres... Michael

Way to old buy a new one and rotate all 5 tyres so you get your moneys worth out of them. I have always used the spare except on my first car in 1985 which had wider tyres than the spare. I'm not sure about any legalities on age if you have an accident and the tyre was proven to be perished with age. If you do some research you'll find some manufacturers say max of 5yrs some 6yrs but they should be inspected once they reach 5yrs for safety then periodically after that.

https://www.liveabout.com/the-science-of-tire-aging-3234377
Interesting information that contradicts some opinions on ageing, tread wear etc.
You need to read the entire report but of particular interest was the statement
Usage: When a tire is driven, the pressure and flexing motion circulate the internal oils through the rubber. These oils lubricate the internal rubber and keep it from drying and stiffening. So tires that are used less are often more vulnerable to aging effects.

These days tyres have less rubber in them than in years gone by. My understanding is that the safety of an old tyre has less to do with how it has been used or how it has been stored if unused, it simply deteriorates with age no matter what. Some countries ban the use of tyres after a certain age but in AUS we don't. I have had a perfectly good looking 10 year old 4WD tyre, with plenty of tread, de-laminate on me at 110kph. The ambient was in the 40's, and I'd just done 40K's on dirt and turned on to the bitumen and had just passed a road train when I felt a slight vibration in the rear. I swerved a few times to check if I had lost tyre pressure and shortly after 'bang' and the tyre had blown out. Luckily it was a rear tyre and we pulled up safely by which time the walls had shredded. If you are going on a big trip or towing the correct advice would be to scrap it. If you are just going to be tonking around the burbs and you only need a spare for emergency use long enough to get a puncture on another tyre repaired, then put the spare away again, I would keep using it as the spare. Probably just as safe as those stupid 'temporary use tyres' supplied as a spare on some vehicles today.

15yrs is pushing it in my book. If it was me I would go with the 5yr 20% tyre.

I prefer Michelins, but currently have 2 Bridgestones on the rear of the OKA which I acquired, used, from a friend. They are now 60% worn and 11 years old. It was my intention to run them this year for another 20K km and then transfer them to my trailer (that uses the same wheels and tyres).
I recently retired 2 Michelins that were 80% worn and the same age from the front.

I have not had any concerns running these tyres to this age and have never had one of these tyres fail except when staked in the side wall.
I suspect that part of the answer to this reliability is because my tyres are loaded to a MAXIMUM of 55% of the tyre's load rating.

Our previous F350 4WD camper experienced numerous catastrophic tyre failures with tyres loaded to 90% of their rating, until I changed the rims and fitted tyres with a higher load rating whereupon the failures ceased.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

The bigger problem with unused full tread "old" tyres, their life doesn't end there, they end up on new box trailers. Most trailer builders used to put used tyres and rims on new trailers, i'm guessing not much has changed in that cut-throat industry!!

And what about all the "good, used" secondhand tyres shipped in from Japan, by the container load, and sold to tens of thousands of eager buyers?

I'll wager no-one is checking to see if they're all under 6 years old. And they go on to do many more years on local vehicles.

Back in the "good ol' days", before we had thick reams and reams of nanny state rules, and lots of common sense abounded - there was a company in W.A. called Bell Bros.

Bell Bros were earthmoving and trucking contractors, and from about 1952, they acquired the distributorship rights to Michelin tyres.
Bell Bros were using Michelin tyres on their heavily-loaded trucks, in places such as the Woodie-Woodie Road, before it was even listed as a road!

Bell Bros also had a large "Bandag" retreading setup for tyres, and they would only retread Michelins first, and then, later, other selected "good" brands of tyre were recapped.

When Bell Bros recapped a tyre, they would buff out one letter in the front of the brand name, so you could see how many times a tyre had been recapped.
So, one recap, you would see "ichelin" on the tyre, second recap it would be "chelin", and so on.

As hard as it may be to believe, when I took my tyres in to Bell Bros for recapping in the 1960's and 1970's, I would often see Michelin truck tyres on the Bell Bros tyre shop floor, with only "lin" or just "in", showing for the brand name!

Now, when you think that those truck tyres had been through 5 and 6 recaps, and were still providing satisfactory service - and I hate to think how old some of those tyres were - then it just goes to prove that either todays tyres are made from poorer quality materials! - or someone in power has just decided it's necessary to boost tyre sales!

Cheers, Ron.

The spare will be good for a spare if you are within 500kms of home....what i mean is if your out and about and need to use it, it will work well, but....if you are planning a long trip heavy loaded, i would not rely on it getting you back home. It will be high load high speed that kills that tyre...My last trip....which was a beauty, i bought 3 new tyres, and the 4th was the spare off the wheel carrier (in sunlight for 4 years) The best tread removed tyre became my spare. That original spare made it all the way around australia and across the simo, but it was noticeable that it was chopping and cracking up on the rubber....it eventually died when i got back home quite unexpectedly 1 day, it just went flat from an internal steel belt wearing a hole from inside far enough for the air pressure to get under the rubber and cause a bubble. I was very lucky it didnt do that half way across the simpson. Hope this helps.