Itinerant Air-Cooled

Got some new to me tires from vistacruzer. Great shape except for this small chunk taken out. Is it still good?

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Probably. Maybe check with a tire store.

Looks like it's just left over "flashing" from where the mold released. Appears that the bead is still intact. I'd still check with a tire store like Hammy suggested though.

Westy78 wrote:Looks like it's just left over "flashing" from where the mold released. Appears that the bead is still intact. I'd still check with a tire store like Hammy suggested though.

Actually if you see it in person you can tell that it's cut. Looks like someone removed the tire them selves. The bead is still fully intact. But yeah, I'll check a tire store before I pull the studs from that one. Pulling tire studs SUCKS!!!

Is is working? How are you doing it? Is it worth the effort?
I am considering it on a set of tires Mark gave me. We could work together like a fun sweatshop.

It's working. Just difficult and tedious. It takes about an hour per tire and each tire contains 80-100 studs.

Can't use em anyway. Just realized the tires have a date code of (016). Which means January of 1996. Way too old. DAMN!!! I really need tires.

Screw the date code, use the tires! It only matters if they're dried out.

Cracking is bad. Mount and balance is cost effective after very few miles. And frequent inspection.

Of course many shops refuse to mount tires citing the unknowns of a tire they didn't sell you. Liability and all.


neal

Very moist & no cracking but been reading all the scare articles about using tires over 10 years old.

Sluggo wrote:Very moist & no cracking but been reading all the scare articles about using tires over 10 years old.

Moist and no cracking is always good!

I will state right now that I could be wrong. With that said, I think the whole "expiration date" regarding tires might have been invented by... wait for it... people who sell tires. The tires on my Riviera are very old yet are still black and go round and round. They may very well explode next week, but as we learned, so can brand new Firestones. Life really is uncertain.

Whew! I'm glad Dick spoke up, my advice makes me wonder some times...
They may have a shorter road-life but the suckers should still spin for a spell.
So how are you doing it, Slugs?

The tires on the VW Thing I just got running are at least 16 yrs old and I have no qualms at all with using them. Them have nearly full tread and no sidewall cracks. They held air for 11 years while it was parked in a back yard waiting for me to save it.

RSorak 71Westy wrote:The tires on the VW Thing I just got running are at least 16 yrs old and I have no qualms at all with using them. Them have nearly full tread and no sidewall cracks. They held air for 11 years while it was parked in a back yard waiting for me to save it.

i'd break the bead on those tires and have a look at the inside. they may be coming apart internally, learned that on some motorhome forums.

Bah humbug, why go lookng for problems where their appear to be none, they drive fine.