Tire age and identification of this bias ply tire.

[mackster]

So a set of tires cost, say, $850...(that is what I just paid for a new set of Michelins). How much will you spend on a roll back for the trip home and how much to fix the wheel/fender/bumper, or what ever the ditch damaged?

...assuming the right front tire goes and not the left front...

When I was a twenty or thirty something kid I let my balls do the talking, now I'll take a more conservative approach. So what if a new radial doesn't 'look' quite proper? I've made it this far and I won't gamble on such an unknown factor. If you want to gamble on old rubber thats fine, just don't include your wife and family unless you tell them the whole story and they sign off...

.

exactly how i feel! couldnt have said it better myself! i know because i tried.

[Eneto-55]

As I said earlier, I've never had a blowout in the front, only the rear, which was no big deal at all. But that was bias ply, as the subject started out. I have never had a radial fail - I stayed away from them until the early problems of flying apart were remedied.

Question: Does a radial act like a bias ply before it blows; getting hot & so forth?

Neto

[1948mando]

Radials are ok if your a school teacher Jon but bias ply is the way to go ..

[p15-1948]

I retired from a tire plant after thirty eight years of service. I check the date code when I buy new tires, I run the best tire the manufacturer makes, and I run them 50,000 miles or five years whichever comes first.

Tire compounds and construction are VERY difference with today's product.

Why take chances at 80mph?

[Don Coatney]

I retired from a tire plant after thirty eight years of service.

What tire plant?

[old stovebolt]

If anyone would like to read a couple of decent book about tires, they might try

"Tire Forensic Investigation" or another one titled "An Investigator's Guide to Tire Failures". As noted, they both provide in depth info on why tires fail and

age related failures.

[old stovebolt]

As I said earlier, I've never had a blowout in the front, only the rear, which was no big deal at all. But that was bias ply, as the subject started out. I have never had a radial fail - I stayed away from them until the early problems of flying apart were remedied.

Question: Does a radial act like a bias ply before it blows; getting hot & so forth?

Neto

In a run flat condition, they both generate significant heat before the sidewalls

fail. As for your rear tire flat, that is why your worst tires should always be put on the front - you can steer the front to compensate.

[BobT-47P15]

Yeah.......I think I recall a state trooper saying the same thing once......

you can steer the front but not the back. So run best tires on the back.

[Eneto-55]

Wait. I don't get it. Are you guys saying that a blowout in the front is easier to control than a rear blowout? Because if that is true, then a blow out is a piece of cake. Been there, done that. And both of my only blowouts occurred when I had had very little driving experience (before I learned to monitor the temp of the tires in summer temps 90 & over). Sure, I was only going 55 or so, but we're talking old cars here - how many drive their 40's cars at 80 mph?

(I'm not arguing about whether a vehicle is easier to control with a rear blowout over a front blowout - I don't know, as I've only ever had rear blowouts, but I will say that I always had the impression that a blowout in the front was more difficult to control, and therefore more dangerous.)

Neto

[old stovebolt]

A tire blow out at any speed, front or rear position, can make the vehicle

very difficult to control. That I am aware, it is always recommended to

place the worst tires on the front - so you have some degree of control from steering. If a rear tire blows, you have no direct directional control over the

wheel.

[p15-1948]

Goodyear Topeka