Danger of old tyres - accident inquest report

[Jeremy]

For those asking about the specific age of the tyres....see the first reply to the original post

Jeremy

[Jim Blackwood]

Yeah, 18 years is pretty questionable.

Jim

[chessie4905]

" sure my tires are old, but they look like new." The years sneak by when you age and twenty years seem more like 5 or 6.

[Jeremy]

I'm no advocate for new laws and regulations but it does seem that at a good start at least would be to require tyre manufacturers to state the production date on the sidewall in large and easily-read text

Jeremy

[Jim Blackwood]

You think they should put an expiration date?

Jim

[Jeremy]

Possibly, if some formula could be agreed that took all the variables into account - although expiration dates might then replace common sense:-

"I don't care if it's got a crack in the sidewall right through to the belting - it's within date so it's legal and I'm going to use it!".

Better perhaps for the public to become more educated so that "tyre age" becomes as important as "tyre wear" in their consciousness. How you achieve that I have no idea.

Jeremy

[richard5933]

It would be nice if some type of UV exposure meter could be built into the sidewall - enough UV hits the sidewall, and suddenly a warning emerges and comes into view. Of course, that would require a determination to be made which establishes a safe amount of UV exposure is safe for a tire and over what period of time. Same could be done for other environmental dangers.

Or, we could do a better job of teaching about this in basic drivers ed classes. I don't remember anything about tire safety being taught other than checking air pressure and tread depth.

[Jon]

They could put flashing lights and a siren on tires to indicate when they reach a certain age and there would remain the same number of RV owners that will continue to use tires so old the rubber is as hard as a rock. It is almost like a blue ribbon to be able to brag about driving cross country on 20 year old ties.

Think I'm kidding? Go back and read some of the posts on here.

[lostagain]

The DOT in most jurisdictions does not care about the age of tires. They look for their condition: tread wear, cuts, cracks, etc. I have tires that are cracked at 4 to 5 years old. Others that look great at 15 years old and would satisfy a DOT officer. 

JC

[chessie4905]

Since there was no thorough analysis of just what caused the tire to explode. Was it age, underinflation, or impact with a foreign object, brand of tire, overload, etc? Overall, still good info to, at least to maintain reasonably fresh front tires.
Maybe that vehicle has a high percentage of weight on the front wheels or some other factor.

[Jon]

The easiest way to understand clearly that the experts who design, build, and recap the tires consider age a factor is to see if any tire will be accepted for recapping if it is older than 6 years, regardless of how it looks.

They won't recap an old tire.

[Jim Blackwood]

Tire makers could come up with an indicator if they wanted to. Hardness of the rubber is a standard metric. All tires are rated for the hardness of the tread. Tread hardness is inversely related to the volume of solvents, plasticizers, and other liquids in the rubber, which "outgas" or evaporate over time, making the compound harder. That's always been known. For any given compound, the ratio of liquids to hardness is also well known, as is the point at which cracking, cord separation, and other failures will begin to occur. So all that is needed is some type of detector to measure the remaining non-solid components in the rubber.

Maybe they could include a dye that creates a loud contrast when the rubber gets too brittle. Then, "Hey! You got pinwheel tires! Time for new ones.

Jim

[windtrader]

The entire conversation about old tires is contained within we RV, busnunts, etc., that drive minimal miles in a non-commercial setting. 99% plus miles of truck tire sizes are put on in commercial use. As long we we fall through gaps and loopholes, that portion of unaccounted "shrinkage", nothing is going to change with respect to regulations, leaving we busnuts to decide when to retire old but unused tires.

[Jim Blackwood]

We need to get some made up out of the rubber they use in tractor tires. Ever notice how they can sit out for decades in the weather and never so much as a crack anywhere until they're near the half century mark or beyond it?

Jim

[sledhead]

my old 1998 kubota tractor tires never had any cracks on them and it sits outside for 7 mths of the year in the sun . 21 years young and no reason to change them


dave