Old Tyre Dangers

I guess most of us are familiar with recent articles in the media telling us that tyres should be replaced when they are more than 10 years old. Indeed, some sources say that all tyres over 6 years old should be replaced.  Old tyres are susceptible to cracking sidewalls and tread, poor balance, separation of the tread from the tyre, flat spots and bulges.

So what? Well the problem is that these old tyres can be quite dangerous, at the very least they can be “out of round” causing wear and tear on the vehicle and making the vehicle uncomfortable and ultimately the tyre can blow out. And the big problem is that sometimes there are hidden dangers where there is no warning other than the fact the tyre is over 10 years old.

Recently, one of our oldest customers fitted his “new” spare tyre to the left front of his Toyota Landcruiser. This “famous brand” tyre had been under a wheel cover on the back door for the last 9 years and had never been used. It had no cracks or bulges. John pumped the tyre up to 40 psi and as usual headed up north for the weekend.

130 kilometers later, while driving on State Highway 1 at 110 kph, the tyre suddenly blew out!  John managed to keep control of the vehicle and pulled our to the side of the road to fit his “spare” which actually was the old tyre that was previously on the left front. The blown out tyre had blown off his left front wheel arch, severely buckled his alloy running board and put a big dent in his left hand sill. So there is quite a bit of damage that needs to be fixed before the vehicles next wof.

Now John is a highly experienced 74 year old driver who did not panic and knew what to do. In fact he could see some humour in the situation but even so, told me it was not something he wanted to do often. His wife was very unhappy about the incident!

John bought a set of 5 Hankook RF10 ATM tyres in size 31 10.5 15 and is delighted with the fantastic road holding plus the quiet and comfortable ride he is getting from them.

So the moral of the story is to replace old tyres, especially those which are cracked and out of shape, before they try to kill you!

Megatyre, Browns Bay, North Shore, Auckland www.megatyre.co.nz