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Old 03-09-2019, 02:20 PM   #1
Ford blue blood
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Default Tires

Yes this is not a late model but the lesson I learned applies. 5 year old tires need to be replaced before they do it for you as happened to me. They looked perfect, little to no tread wear, correct pressure, just 10 years old. It came apart at 75 in traffic on the interstate. Cold have been much worse, just glad it was only me that got messed up!
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File Type: jpg Tire fail 002.jpg (64.1 KB, 58 views)
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Old 03-09-2019, 05:17 PM   #2
Gene F
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Wow. Is that a prewar Plymouth, or a Chevrolet
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Old 03-09-2019, 05:57 PM   #3
darrell
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Default Re: Tires

that wasnt a recap was it.
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Old 03-09-2019, 06:04 PM   #4
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Default Re: Tires

Is the condition of that fender a result of the tire failure?

My '55 project car came with a full set of very nice looking Michelin radials. Before it was running I noticed from the tire code they were over 20 yrs old (443 = 44th week of '93) so I kept it off the hiway and under 50 mph until new ones were put on.
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Old 03-09-2019, 06:24 PM   #5
Ford blue blood
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Yes the tire beat the total crap out of it. It is a 36 Chevy with a 351C FMX MII 8". Took out the fender, inner fender and the fender went up and hit the head light and busted the mount. Nope, don't do caps, brand new Firestone when put on the car.
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Old 03-09-2019, 07:55 PM   #6
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I bought an '80s GM car that had General tires on it. Every one of them separated before they wore out. I'm sure all of them aren't that bad, but I haven't/won't bought another. You can usually hear them flapping before they come apart.
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Old 03-09-2019, 09:58 PM   #7
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Default Re: Tires

Interesting timing. Friday I stopped to order tires for my Mom’s 9 1/2 year old Lincoln, 14,000 miles.

I’ve known the tire guy for years, and laid it out. He said some manufacturers will say a tire parked inside in a mild climate like Seattle will go 10 years. He said he’s also see them fail at 8 years. They may be fine around town, but a hot day at highway speeds and who knows.

I know on the motorhomes, we never went more than 7 years, no matter what the wear.

Needless to say, Mom’s new tires go on Tuesday.

Sorry about the damage, but thanks for the post.
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Old 03-10-2019, 02:56 AM   #8
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I think I have heard of Firestone’s having that problem a while back.
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Old 03-10-2019, 09:50 AM   #9
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Lucky it didn't cause accident, Chinese rv tires are the worst. Goodyear finally started making them again. 6 years max on rv's and your lucky if you get that. Sometimes people ask me why don't you drive this or that anymore. Time gets away from me and I will not drive with old brake lines/hoses or tires any more.
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Old 03-10-2019, 09:53 AM   #10
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firestone had same problem with their 727 tire I would never buy one of them
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Old 03-10-2019, 11:18 AM   #11
Ole Don
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Thank you Blue Blood for helping me make an expensive decision. Last November I bought a nice old 64 F100. It has tires that look like new, but are in fact 12 years old. Because of this post, I will replace them. Maybe its not an expensive decision, it may be cheap in the long run. Thanks for helping.
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Old 03-10-2019, 03:56 PM   #12
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A great reminder about the appearance of tires versus the actuality of hidden problems. Thanks for posting.
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Old 03-11-2019, 09:21 AM   #13
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I've had 7 year old tires with less than a hundred miles on them blow just sitting in the garage. General radials, two out of four a week apart. changed all four.
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Old 03-11-2019, 09:31 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 56sedandelivery View Post
I think I have heard of Firestone’s having that problem a while back.

That would be the Firestone 500 around 1976. I was working in a shop back then and they came in all the time. Sometimes the tread came off in chunks, sometimes the steel belts were poking out the sidewalls. The 721 was the replacement tire.
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Old 03-11-2019, 03:46 PM   #15
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I had a 76 T-Bird with Firestone 500s. Got a recall from Firestone for free replacement if within a serial number range. All 5 were. I wasn't having any problems with mine so I waited until the replacement period was about out and got them replaced with 5 Firestone 721s.
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Old 03-11-2019, 06:12 PM   #16
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Default Re: Tires

I been drivin for 46 years. Seems to me, it aint about the age of the tire rather more about who the manufacturer is and sometimes it is the model of tire.
IMO, Coker tires aint worth a hoot for drivin on and they certainly don't last long before the tread is all gone.
I've got cheepo Firestone 215-75R-15's on the back and Vanderbilt 205-75R-15's on the front of my '55 Sedan. They are good as gold and all are about 14 yrs old now. Put a lot of highway miles on those.
My 2007 F-150 pickup truck only has 51,000 miles on it and still has the factory original Michelin tires. It looks to me like I can get another 20,000 miles on the tread.
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Old 03-11-2019, 06:44 PM   #17
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Even though I've had some really crappy tires down thru the years (which I have used to drive long distances on highways), the only time I ever had a flat tire on the road was around 1997 or 98, I was just getting started on the highway on the way home from work in my '55 Sedan.
I opened the trunk and there was this ancient 670X15 spare, dry as a bone and it was flat also. Just as I had finished removing my flat tire, an '85 Crown Vic stopped on the shoulder in front of me. An old man got out and offered to let me use his portable compressor that operated off the battery. We aired up my spare and it looked more and more scary as you could see the dry cracks throughout the sidewalls. I put it on and thanked the Lord, that he sent that man out of the blue to assist me. I drove 29 miles the rest of the way home on the highway, trying to keep the speed under 55 MPH for fear that the old tire would fly apart.
It held up all the way home, even though it had a un-even load on it, since the other three tires had an equivalent O.D. of 710X15's. So she ran down the road a little lopsided.
Yes, the next morning, I threw my spare in the back of the pickup truck and dropped it off at a tire shop to get plugged. That night, I removed the old spare and put my plugged tire back on. I'm guessing that old spare had to be well over 35 years old. It wasn't a Coker. It was a name brand. But at that age, yeah, the rubber is too dry and scary. I was shakin' in my boots for 29 miles till I got home.
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Old 03-12-2019, 07:34 AM   #18
Ford56
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Talking Re: Tires

Quote:
Originally Posted by Daves55Sedan View Post
I been drivin for 46 years. Seems to me, it aint about the age of the tire rather more about who the manufacturer is and sometimes it is the model of tire.
IMO, Coker tires aint worth a hoot for drivin on and they certainly don't last long before the tread is all gone.
I've got cheepo Firestone 215-75R-15's on the back and Vanderbilt 205-75R-15's on the front of my '55 Sedan. They are good as gold and all are about 14 yrs old now. Put a lot of highway miles on those.
My 2007 F-150 pickup truck only has 51,000 miles on it and still has the factory original Michelin tires. It looks to me like I can get another 20,000 miles on the tread.
Yup, i agree w/above. I've got tires on my '64 Vette that were there when I got the car, 15 years ago. So, who knows how old those ones are. I kept the tires on my '56 Ford Club Sedan from when I bought it in 1983 until 2007. Never had a problem; I just changed them out because I wanted radials instead of the bias ply. Similar story w/my '58 Corvette..... kept the tires on that one for about 30 years before I had 'em changed for radials. For me, old tires aren't as worrisome as they are for some folks, mostly because I don't drive like a maniac, nor do I put on more than about a couple hundred miles per year.
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Old 03-12-2019, 11:29 AM   #19
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It was around 1997, I had an old Chevy wagon (1979) and I was coming down from a camping trip in upstate NY. I had a flat getting onto the Palisades Parkway, right before the George Washington Bridge. Grab the spare.... gulp... a Fearstone 500... no choice, slap it on. I got close to home when it started thumping and finally came apart. Luckily I had won a ton of change playing poker and used most of it making phone calls. It was Labor Day weekend and I finally got someone to bring me a tire.
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Old 03-13-2019, 07:33 AM   #20
Ford56
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bobss396 View Post
It was around 1997, I had an old Chevy wagon (1979) and I was coming down from a camping trip in upstate NY. I had a flat getting onto the Palisades Parkway, right before the George Washington Bridge. Grab the spare.... gulp... a Fearstone 500... no choice, slap it on. I got close to home when it started thumping and finally came apart. Luckily I had won a ton of change playing poker and used most of it making phone calls. It was Labor Day weekend and I finally got someone to bring me a tire.
Boy, this story reminds me that some of us are really "old school". Not too many 'kids' today will even attempt to fix anything on the side of the road; just use the cell phone and call for roadside assistance. Get the tilt bed in there and haul it away. LOL
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