rubber aging

[GeekOKent]

I discovered this last weekend that 2 of the tyres in circulation on my 120 are from new sale, nearly 10 years old Dunlop AT20's ( marked manufacture date is 2005 ), and the other three are not a lot newer ( marked 2008 ).

I've been rotating them around every 5k miles, but i suspect the prev owner had been doing something similar - the truck has 113k miles on the clock now. the typical dunlop shoulder fade is well established now though ( even when there is plenty of tread left in the middle of the tyre, and the overall grip hasent been terrible ).

Was going to get grabber AT's all around, but based on my driving and the massively tarmac bias I expect in the next few years for this truck ( estimating 90% of drive will be tarmac, motorway ), the local shop recommended looking at the Yokohama Geolander G012 instead. Claims a nearly similar offroad experience between the grabber AT and the G012, but a better overall tarmac experience on the G012's ; I need to decide by the end of this week and get new shoes on Sat morning.

So, really just wondering if there was much truth ( or how folks on this forum feel ) about running old rubber ? is the old saying - dont run anything older than 5 years, still valid these days ?

- KB

 

[clivehorridge]

Older tyres are prone to perish but IMO this is mostly just on the surface (UV attack, and oxidization of the surface in contact with the air).

Obviously, if the cracks are visibly deeper and likely to affect the structure of the tyre, then I would suggest playing safe and replacing them.

I have a big chunk out of the sidewall of a GG AT and it has no effect on driving, there's no deformation (no bulge or the like) and hopefully there's no compromise on safety.

However, I'm no expert and if in doubt, play safe.

 

[GeekOKent]

yeah, going down the play safe route here.

- KB

 

[t1pper]

Hi,
I would change up to new rubber if you are using the car as your daily drive as the stress and hassle of a tyre problem away from home and obviously it will always go on the hard shoulder at night, raining and in your best clothes on the way to the airport this will soon make you wish you had taken the decision to buy new rubber sooner.
I had some older tyres on my 100 and they looked fine until I deflated them and squashed the tyre and found lots of deep cracks that were not exposed when it was up to pressure.
I have fitted some BFG AT and have been very pleased with them so far the road noise is not a problem even at motorway speed and the wear has been even and the grip on tarmac has been perfect lastly the off road performance has given no problems at all.

 

[GeekOKent]

New shoes. Got the yokohama's.

 

[nickh888]

Hi, how are you finding the yoko's?

 

[GeekOKent]

They are pretty good. Need to run them slightly higher pressure than the dunlops. The wet preforance is great! Done about 1000 miles on them this last week in the wet on highway and country lanes.

 

[nickh888]

Good to know thanks. They're added to my wish list for 2015


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