Do tires expire or lose any of its "properties"?

Galego · 02-03-2022 3:16pm #1

I had some tires sitting in my house which I possibly bought 8 years ago, used them for less than 500km and now I was thinking to perhaps stick them on again.

The above situation made me think whether tires expire or not. Do they lose "feel"?

Would I notice anything? Would they just feel the same than 8 years (dont really remember though how they felt)?

Ubbquittious · 02-03-2022 3:21pm

If they're kept indoors for 8 years they're probably ok. It is the UV that does the divil on them

Alkers · 02-03-2022 3:40pm

Rubber gets hard with age and will lose grip. It can also start to crack.

Have a good look and feel of them and then make a judement.

magicbastarder · 02-03-2022 7:02pm

moved to the main cycling forum

pump the tyres up and check that the rubber isn't showing any cracking. i've used tyres quite a bit older than 8 years with no issues, bike was stored inside.

TheRiverman · 02-03-2022 7:08pm

Are they American "tires" ? 😅.

crosstownk · 02-03-2022 10:56pm

The tyres on my commuter are +15 years old and the bike has been out in the shed it's whole life. No cracks or other issues other than the rear tyre needs replacing due to normal wear.

CramCycle · 02-03-2022 11:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118720268#Comment_118720268

Giggle, in your end oooooh

magicbastarder · 02-03-2022 11:25pm

i posted a photo here about a year ago of the inner tube taken from a bike i bought a year ago; it is a dunlop inner tube, made in ireland. i think it was 8valve who was able to confirm that dunlop closed their irish factory (in cork) in 1984. so that inner tube was at least 37 years old at that point and was still holding air.

Hurrache · 03-03-2022 11:01am

An interesting Twitter thread (well I thought so anyway), both related to this topic and current affairs...

https://twitter.com/TrentTelenko/status/1499164245250002944

JMcL · 03-03-2022 11:09am

It probably very much depends on the tire and the compound

I've had a set of cheap Vitorria Randonneurs on my knockabout bike for probably going on 15 years now. The bike doesn't get a huge amount of use these days and is stored indoors, but I give them a quick check usually when I pump them up if using the bike and they're still fine.

I've also had a Specialized Armadillo that I've had for about 10 years which hadn't been used since I swapped it out for something more fun (they're bulletproof, but these felt like dragging a breezeblock behind). Since I had it lying around, I used it as a trainer tire during lockdown. It was fine going on, and fine coming off again

On the other had, I've had expensive Conti GP 4 Seasons become unusable (rubber cracked like crazy paving) on me after not much usage (probably < 3000km) and exposure to the sh1te that ends up on the road over winter. This might have been down to a poor batch of tires (I usually buy multiples from one of the German sites) as the more recent ones have been fine with probably 8000lm odd on them and going strong

Weepsie · 03-03-2022 4:57pm

I just took off some GP5000s that are cracked and in rag order for much older and as well used GP4000 that I had lying around. The 4000s have some signs of age too, but not as much.

lissard · 03-03-2022 5:49pm

I had a GP4000 tyre on my bike for about 5 years and I had a lucky escape. It was my front tyre so the wear was not anything as bad as that on the rear. I put 8000 km on it and it looked fine for ages (tyre wear dimples were fine) until one day it suddenly split wide open - I could see right down to the vectran barrier. Fortunately I spotted this before I went out for a ride and I avoided a blow out. Watch out - old tyres are definitely an accident waiting to happen.

JMcL · 04-03-2022 11:13am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118726960#Comment_118726960

I guess another factor is pressure. A skinny road tyre will be under a lot more pressure when inflated (90psi and up), thus a lot more likely to fail in a bad way, than wider tyres on a hybrid which would be more of order of 50-60psi. But yeah, you're right. I did have one of that batch of 4 Seasons I mentioned above have the sidewall fail - fortunately not catastrophically and I was able to put a boot in and limp home. Not 100% sure whether it was just something sharp on the road, or weakness in the tyre, but I was glad that was the last one standing from that batch all the same

mr spuckler · 04-03-2022 3:33pm

I've had some tyres I bought about 3 years ago but never used which are still boxed up in the original packaging. I'm expecting my current GP4000s to fail at some point this year so am curious to take a look at the new ones soon to see what state they're in. This thread has reminded me to do so!

Do tires expire or lose any of its "properties"?

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