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When shopping for new tires from tirerack.com, the production date of the tires is listed.

I'm considering tires from a 2007 production run, which would make them around 5 years old today (after damaging a tire, I'm looking at buying a pair of the same tires to match whats already on the car).

I change tires seasonally between high performance summer and studless snow/ice, so a given set of tires can last me quite a while. I'd expect to get 4 seasons out of these (i.e. four more calendar years).

How old is too old for a passenger car tire? How old would a "new tire" have to be before you passed it over?

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    I just read in "Motor Age"(Nov. 2012 pg.60) that tire manufacturers are now saying 5 years, regardless of tread depth. That seems a little too cautious for my standards.
    – mikes
    Nov 27, 2012 at 23:15
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    You should also consider this particular source: a five year old tire from the Tire Rack warehouse is not the same as a tire that I've had sitting in the back corner of my garage for the same amount of time.
    – Bob Cross
    Nov 30, 2012 at 13:10
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    Motor Age has issued a retraction. They now say most brands are good for 10 years. However your individual results will vary based on climate, use, vehicle weight etc. I look for obvious cracks, bulges, distortion of the tread etc.
    – mikes
    Dec 10, 2012 at 1:30
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    @JerryOL, because I know that, at a minimum, my garage is not climate controlled. In fact, it's more sort of climate uncontrolled: air quality is terrible, who knows what kinds of particulates, temperature extremes, etc.
    – Bob Cross
    Jan 31, 2013 at 19:26
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    There is a simple logic in this, the older the tire is, the harder the rubber gets, basically old tire won´t wear a lot, so unused old tyre could be good but only on dry road, I am speaking of 5 year tire maximum, for example, driving 7-11 year tire on wet road is suicide, cheap new tire has better qualities than 5 year conti/pirelli, new tire can endure up to 50000km when driving very gently, aggresive driving can consume tire in 15000km, depending on where you drive consider buying tires for whole year (only when winter is no so rough) I think they are marked M+S.
    – Mustafa105
    Apr 7, 2014 at 14:11

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Personally, I'd never use tyres which are more than 5 years old, regardless of visual appearance. Rubber ages pretty badly after a certain interval, and even if you store them as recommended (dry and cool places) their quality and especially hardness deteriorate.

This is even more valid for winter/studded tyres, or tyres for performance vehicles, since you absolutely want to be able to rely on them in harsh conditions. A car with old winter tyres on a chilly day (-5 to -10 °C) has the steering characteristics of a 1.5 ton curling stone. Do yourself a favour and buy new ones--with winter and summer sets, they will last for approximately 5 years while doing ~20 000 km per year on average, and the cost amortized over the years is not a big deal.

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This article gives an answer to your question with great details, unfortunately it is in italian.

The summary is tires do get old through time even if not installed under a car for few different reasons, oxidation, sunlight exposition, loss of volatile oils, etc...

The swiss touring club (TCS) and the german automobil club (ADAC) performed tests and verified tyres older than 2 years are starting to show aging signals, they do recommend to install tires newer than two years and to avoid tires older than 5 years.

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Good question. I've seen a set of 5 year old tires basically disintegrate (cracked so bad they sprung leaks everywhere at once), but that was probably due to heat cycles (as they had 140,000 highway miles on them). I've also got a set of 13 year old tires on one of my cars right now (only used for a couple months a year and the occasional dirt/gravel road rally) and they don't even have surface cracks yet. I've also got a 10 year old set of tires that I use for the occasional track day, which are approaching the wear bars, but show no signs of distress yet. I had a 10 year old spare (used twice that I can think of) tire crack and leak too. Dunno.

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The tyres on my tractor are 40 years old, and still work fine! :-)

(Of course, they never go over 20 kph… :-)

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    That's not really relevant to the O/P's question though, is it ;) Tractor tyres are a bit different to passenger car ones!
    – Nick C
    Dec 7, 2012 at 11:41
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    In part yes, but they remain being tires, being round, made of rubber, and keep the air pressure, so that is somewhat relevant.
    – oryades
    May 3, 2018 at 6:27
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For tire there are two things to be concern.

  1. Mechanical life or thread condition. Depends to the usage.
  2. Chemical life. Started immediately when tire produced. Since its mix of some other chemicals beside the rubber it becomes harder and harder when the time pass. Because the rubber in the mixture reacting the oxygen in the air. Unless you pack it airtight and keep it maybe very cool and damp free environment the tire will "age".

After the installation, depending to the usage and environment one of the "limits" I mentioned above will be reached; either it will wear off due to usage or start to be more "hard" or "less grippy" after around 4 or 5 years (from production date) depending to the production quality of tire.

When you need to buy new tires, I suggest check the production date if it is not older than one year. For me, in extreme cases it could be 3 years max.

Regards.

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I work for a tire company. They've done extensive testing, in a warehouse, tires are good for a long time. So much so that they've successfully kept away any legislation mandating a timeline of how long they should last.

We have regularly sold tires up to 5 years old, and that is to a wholesaler (which means they could sit for an additional amount of time before being sold, and then be used for several years after that). Almost all manufacturers regularly and without discounts, sell to 3 years.

I honestly wouldn't worry about it if you plan on using them regularly. If you keep them properly inflated they will last to wear before you experience the breakdown in rubber.

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  • We all hear this from tire companies, however the methodology they use to test the tires is under question. Also the tires are actually aged, and you will experience it when start driving. They will loose traction more faster than new tires. Oct 26, 2016 at 8:12
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All depends on manufacturer. Some warranty tyres from date of manufacture some from date fitted. Ask! Also to prolong life use tyre black/rotate as manual specifies/regularly check tyre pressures/try and avoid locking up brakes on cars pre-ABS, as you can create flat spots.

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Depending on ozone levels,[id.electric motors $atrunning thunder lightnig ect temperature] these are factors that occur in your environment I live in Alaska have safely sold used tires for twenty six years.we dont have the stunning heat that wears tires quick.i wash stack sort and measure tread depth.i sell tires for 160. A set add for load E,look pro,studded or non mount for fifty.a lot of ignorant people in social media sell tyres not knowing anything about industry standsrds,.I sell well stored tires fifteen years old with no problems.enter image description here

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I have 1993 Geo Prizm. I have five tires. Four on and one spare. I hardly drive it since I put those tires on 10 years ago. The treads are hardly warned if any at all. However one of then started to slow leak. I took it to Town Fair tires to have it dismounted from the rim and remounted so as to be re-seated back on the rim. They refuse to do it even as they said that the tire was in excellent condition, almost in brand new conditions. The reason they gave me was that the manufacturing date on the side of the tire, indicated the tire was ten years old. They said they were afraid that the tire would blowup in their face. What a bunch of crap just to try in selling me new tires that I did not need. They wanted my practically brand new tires and said they could replace them with lesser age used tires. New tires and use tire are expensive these days. I have driven new tires that have exploded driving on the highway. Tires like anything else can come apart without notice, even when they are new. It seems that today, regulations make an issue out everything for the sake of safety, but the bottom line is making money off the least of us that can not afford all these lapse time maintenance calls. We take a risk every day, when one goes on the road and no one is completely safe, but only by the grace of God.

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    Welcome to Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair! Actually, they told you right. Put just enough stress on an old tire and it will pop. They are concerned for their safety, just as you should be concerned for yours. Dec 18, 2018 at 2:39

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