<VV> Old tires

[Nick Elzinga]

Three years ago I went to look at a set of six tires that were advertised on
Gumtree.  The ad said "Tires - like new!!!!". They comprised four Goodyear
GT2s and two Continentals CR21s. After consulting with a friend as to what
constituted the term "new" I headed off to the sellers farm where I was
shown the tires.  They didn't look so new to me, but the seller insisted
that the Goodyears had only been used to the shop and back for 5 weeks and
the Continentals had just been used as spares when going on camping trips.
On inspecting the tires, I saw two of the Goodyears had been manufactured in
week 22 of 2003.  The other two had been manufactured in 2006 and the two
Continentals had been manufactured in 2003 as well.  That meant that four
tyres were at the end of their useful life by 2009 and the remaining two
were halfway through their useful life.  When I pointed out the facts to the
seller, he was somewhat taken aback.  I told him that the Continental CR21s
were already being referred to as vintage tyres on the net and made a
suggestion as to what I believed the tires to be worth (not much) and what I
could buy them for brand new and that his local dealer was obviously ripping
him off as he suggested that he was paying 50% more than the price I had
been quoted.  I was quite blunt and said the tyres were most definitely not
like new and that I would be better off buying genuine new tyres and that
the tyres he was selling could no longer be regarded as safe.

He probably had no idea how old the tires were until I pointed it out, but I
wasn't going to waste my money on time-expired rubber. 

Nick


-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Grant Young
Sent: 27 October 2012 19:26
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> Old tires

Just read in the AAA travel magazine that the safe life on tires, regardless
of mileage, is about 6 years.