Don’t Use Old Tyres on Classic Cars | By Tony Merrygold
Some people go to great lengths to keep their classic cars as they were built, even to the extent of driving on the original tyres This is not a good idea as the rubber in tyres degrades with age and old tyres can fail.
There is no specific evidence that says that car tyres over xx years old need replacing, although most tyres manufacturers now recommend that you shouldn’t use tyres if they are more than ten years old.
Tyres should last between 20,000 and 30,000 miles depending on usage. The front tyres on modern front wheel drive cars may only last 20,000 as they bear the wear of both being driven and power steering. On rear wheel drive cars, like most classics, the rear tyres tend to wear out quicker but may still be good for 25,000 miles and the front tyres should cover 30,000 miles. I have known some last for 40,000 miles.
We have ten classic cars which we hire out so know about both buying and using old cars and have specific experience of two problems with old tyres.
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In 1990 I bought a Jaguar E-Type which obviously hadn’t had much use for many years (probably at least 15). The tyres looked good, with about 6mm of tread and in theory should have lasted for another 15 to 20,000 miles. The E-Type came with a full year’s MOT and I only covered 2-3,000 miles in the first year. When the following year’s MOT came around, while the MOT tester didn’t fail the car, he did advise that I should replace all the tyres. They still had about 5mm of tread, but at the base of the tread there were cracks in the rubber, probably right down to the carcase. There was the possibility that the tread could have come away from the casing. Without further ado I invested in a set of 5 new tyres.
My second experience was slightly different. In 2003 I bought an MG RV8 which had been exported to Japan in 1993 and like many RV8s had been re-imported to Britain. Like most Japanese imports it was fairly low mileage about 19,000 kms (11,000 miles) and still on its original tyres with ample tread and only 10 years old. Having had problems previously, I checked the tyres carefully and there were no cracks at the base of the tread. All looked fine so I carried on using them.
As far as I was aware I had no problems with the car although I always thought that the steering was a bit heavy, but then it had no power assistance and the ride was harsher than on our MGB Roadster. I put these down to the added weight of the 3.9 litre Rover V8 engine and the necessarily beefed up suspension.
When tyre wear dictated that I bought a new set of tyres, the car was completely transformed. The ride was much more comfortable, softer, more compliant and not harsh over cats-eyes. The steering was considerably lighter although nothing else had changed and I ran the tyres at the same pressures.
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After checking with a few other MG RV8 owners, particularly of imported cars, I found out that this was a known problem. It was believed that the tyres hardened over the years in the Japanese heat affecting both their flexibility and their grip. So different age of tyres (only 10 years old instead of 15 year) and a different problem.
I have recently seen a car advertised on the web, made in 1982 with only 7,500 miles on the clock. The seller makes a great point of its originality including the fact that it still has its original Goodyear NCT tyres (now 27 years old). Whoever buys this car, the first thing he should do is to change the tyres. Maybe the seller would stand more of a chance if he sold it with a brand new set of tyres.
As we move into 2009 it is now easy to check on the age of tyres as the date of manufacture can be found on the sidewall by examining the characters following the symbol “DOT”. For tyres manufactured after the year 1999, the last four numbers identify the year and week of manufacture. The first two of these four numbers identify the week of manufacture (which range from “01″ to “52″). The last two numbers identify the year of manufacture (e.g., a tyre with the information “DOT XXXXXX2605″ was manufactured in the 26th week of 2005).
Many classic car owners only cover 2 to 3,000 miles per year (many less) so their tyres could well last more than 10 years, at which point they ought to think of changing them anyway, irrespective of how much tread is left.
Now when I buy a car to add to The Open Road’s car hire fleet, if there is any doubt as to the age or condition of the tyres, I will replace the whole set.
So if you have either a classic car, or any low mileage sports car, that is more than ten years old, check the date of manufacture on the tyres. If they were made in 1999, or before this numbering convention was adopted, then you really should consider investing in a complete new set of tyres.
Tony Merrygold | The Open Road – Classic Car Hire | http://www.theopenroad.co.uk
Expert in running a classic car hire company having been in business in the UK since 1997 running The Open Road. Tony runs courses telling people how to start up a car hire company, having trained over 100 people over the past three years.
Combining his knowledge of marketing and the classic car hire industry, in early 2008 Tony launched a new web portal Classic Car Hire World http://www.classiccarhireworld.com – listing classic and sports car hire companies around the world. Within three months of its launch this site acheived a Google PageRank of 4/10 and was showing on the first page of google.com when users searched for ‘classic car hire’.
Tony also runs a sales and marketing consultancy concentrating on working with Small and Medium Enterprise (SME), helping them grow their business.
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