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TR2/3/3A Forgotten safety item

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mctriumph

mctriumph

Jedi Knight
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Saw an add for used tyres and had to laugh. Go look at the date codes on your "rubber doughnuts"
Tires perish from old age as much as miles. The maximum safe age on a steel radial is 10 or 12 years.
I have seen tires explode while sitting still and shudder at what the results might have been at speed.
Last year I pitched a nearly perfect set of Michelins( that had been installed in 83) even though they still
had the nibs!!
Dont bet your safety on a tire that is past its life span just because it "looks OK" .
I also recommend a softer compound so the tire can grip the road in a corner better... that's the point
of a Tr , spirted driving!! Smiles Per Gallon..
Mad dog
 
I was warned in 2021 that the tires on my Bentley were 9 years old. I began shopping for new ones but never pulled the trigger. Driving to a show in December 2022 the car didn't ride smoothly; I assumed from flat-spotted tires. On the way home it began shimmying up and down and lurching side to side. I asked my wife to drive it around the block so I could watch... and I saw the left front tire trying to come off the rim.

20221203_182408.jpg


This is how it looked after I pulled out the valve stem core to let the air out (as quickly as I could -- it looked ready to blow up in my face). The cambered tread is not an optical illusion -- the tread is actually sliding off the carcass towards the outer sidewall. It looked even worse inflated. You can also see a line running from the split across the inner sidewall (12:00 to 9:00 in the photo), that is a nylon cord that came loose.

Thanking my lucky stars that it was a local show. I had scheduled to drive a wedding couple 60 miles away the following weekend!

Jay Leno recently penned a column in the Hagerty Drivers' Club magazine that he is currently shopping for something like 1200 tires -- one exploded right next to him on a car that was parked, which prompted him to start checking date codes on all of his vehicles.
 
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