[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index] [New Search]
On 24 Jun 2005 at 13:01, Doug Brashear wrote: > Out of lurk mode I come to ask you all another question. My Fastback is > running fine, maybe in need of a rear brake adjustment but otherwise > functioning well. However, my tires are on their 7th year, and > dry-rotting badly. Unfortunately, 165SR15's don't seem to be as widely > available as they once were. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that many people make much too much of a fuss about old tires. Of the 4 squarebacks which I own which could be put on the road in a few days, there are only 2 tires which are younger than yours. The rest are all considerably older. Rubber does not "dry" out, and I really don't know what the term "dry rot" means when applied to tires. Yes, they get oxidized on the surface, but the only surface that really matters is the tread, where wear exposes relatively fresh material all the time. Minor "checking" of the sidewalls is not an issue. It's really irrelevant. Checking that gets deep enough to expose the cord can lead to problems simply because it can let moisture into the cord and also because it creates stress risers which can cause fatigue to the cord at the point where the crack penetrates. Dave shamed me into changing some of my tires before our trip to Parma, and I think he was more than a little concerned about even the "better" tires that we swapped onto the '69, but none of them gave us any trouble, and I've really had almost no tire trouble ever, with my type 3 tires, even though I let them get old and wear out. I recently read where there are those who recommend that tires be replaced after they are 4 years old. I find that to be pretty silly. I'm not surprised, however, to hear that some of the tire companies are behind this. Still, you have to be the judge. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~