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Message started by blue-J on 08/19/05 at 08:08:22

Title: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by blue-J on 08/19/05 at 08:08:22

Hi,

This is my first post. I have been reading the posts and enjoying my first bike (used 1999) for a few months, though. This forum has been great!

Yesterday, I brought my bike in for new tires (Metzelers) and a tune-up. As far as I knew from reading the date stamp on my tires, my bike still had the original tires on them from 1998!

Problem: when I dropped off my bike, I saw my tires sitting there in the shop, so I had a look (he had to order them in from who knows where). I looked specifically at the date stamp, which I believe is a three or 4 digit (week-year) combination. One of the tires had a 2001 date stamp (0501). The other was 2005 (1605 or something).

Regarding the 2001 tire: I told the guy that I did not want to put a 5 year old tire on my bike. He was shocked. For one, he didn't believe that it was the right date stamp, but he couldn't find another one. And two, he thought that if they were un-used, who cares how old they are.

Am I wrong about 5 year old tires not being the same as new tires?

thanks,

Blue-J

Title: Re: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by mornhm on 08/19/05 at 08:14:21

Nobody should sell 5 year old tires as new. Old cured rubber "checks" and will leak air through the rubber. Some people call this "dry rot." I would guess that most of the other construction on the tire should be OK.

If you have questions about this talk to someone who works for a tire manufacturer (I used to be an engineer for Firestone and then Dunlop) not a dealer.

Edited to add :Checked on Dunlop's web site and they said "Sidewalls are specially compounded to resist ozone cracking or weather checking." Could be things have improved in the past 15 years, but I wouldn't buy 5 year old tires as new.

Title: Re: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by sluggo on 08/19/05 at 08:19:57

cash talks, b.s. walks. go buy the tire you want, the way you want. if a sales guy objects, just remind him that's it's your cash, your life, and you ain't playing no games with it.

Title: Re: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by mikedasavage on 08/19/05 at 08:29:15

i agree with sluggo.

Title: Re: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by Savage_Rob on 08/19/05 at 08:33:40

Me too.

Title: Re: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by Reelthing on 08/19/05 at 09:22:34

I'll third or 4th the motion! - and for sure in your case the metz are not cheap tires - if they can't find some fresh 880's I'll bet somebody else can - that date code read sounds right - but I'm not positive.

Title: Re: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by lancer on 08/19/05 at 10:50:43

I recently heard something on TV about auto/truck tires and age problems. I do not remember exactly which manufacture/s (it was one of the big guys) was making the report, but the bottoom line was that ANY TIRE ON THE SHELF FOR MORE THAN 5 YEARS WAS TO BE PULLED....AND NOT SOLD AT ALL.
The manufacturer considered any tire that even sat on the shelf inside a store for more than 5 years to be NOT SAFE.

Did you buy that tire? If you did, I would go back to the dealer and demand a "NEW TIRE" ....because that is what you paid for.

Title: Re: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by Jim_R on 08/19/05 at 12:09:39

3403 = the first 2 numbers identify the week (34 th ) and the last 2 the year (2003) in which the tire was produced

http://www.us.metzelermoto.com/product_info/pcare/reading_tire/index.htm

ps salespeople sux

Title: Re: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by Ed_L. on 08/19/05 at 13:24:36

Yeah, don't trust any old tires, even if they look good they can come apart at the worst possible moment. I just towed my boat down from Pennsylvania to Florida with the orignial tires on a 14 year old trailer. Boy oh boy was that a mistake, one tire had chunks of tread the size of my hand rip off on the interstate. Talk about Blowing Chunks, I've done a lot of that in my time but not like this ;D. I couldn't help but think of all the older bikes out there with orignial tires and the potential for sudden tire failure. It's good to know about the date codes, you can never assume the rubber is fresh. Ride Safe

Title: Re: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by Reelthing on 08/22/05 at 20:48:48

how did this work out for you?

Title: Re: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by blue-J on 08/24/05 at 12:07:40

well, it was and continues to be quite the saga:

the mechanic kept assuring me that the 5 year old tire was fine, and even insisted that I speak to the distributor, who also assured me that the tire was stored properly.

Of course, I knew they were biased, but since I was sick and tired at the end of the day on Friday, I agreed to have them put the tire on.

However, when I went to pick it up on Saturday, the mechanic only had the newer tire on. He said:"well, I knew you'd never be satisfied with the old tire, so we took it off." So I had to go home with only one new tire, with the mechanic saying he'd "go to bat for me with the distributor" over the old tire.

Well, on Monday, he said he thinks the old tire is fine... and it seems as though he is trying to convince me to go with old one again!

After that, I spent Monday calling other shops and asking them if they used other distributors, and lo and behold, another shop said "I'll order you one and if it's too old, I'll send it back - no problem." And today I just found out that they have it in their hands and it's a 2005 tire.

Needless to say, the new shop has gained a new customer!

I have to wait to the weekend to get it installed, but I think the saga will soon be over.

Thanks for your advice.

Blue-J

Title: Re: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by Reelthing on 08/24/05 at 12:38:32

good deal - you know it may even be more important on the metz 880's as these things cost a bunch but seem to last a lot of miles - maybe 20k or more than that depending on how you ride of course - so if you started with 5 year old ones seems certain the sidewalls would die before the tread wore out

Title: Re: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by Susan on 08/24/05 at 19:21:39

Blue-J -- Good for you for sticking up for yourself and finding what you wanted. We put our lives "in the hands of our tires" so to speak. You were right not to take a five-year old tire.

Your experience is a good warning to us all to check dates on supposedly new tires that we buy!

Title: Re: "new" tires - Am I wrong?
Post by savage777 on 08/25/05 at 10:03:45

I used to work a an HD dealer we wouldn't have dreamed of puttin a 5 year old "new" tire on someone's bike......no more than 1 yr on the shelf or they went back your were definately smart in demanding a truely "new" tire