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#16
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Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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Ron 2015 Porsche Cayman - Elizabeth 2011 Porsche Cayman - Bond,James Bond Sadly MERCEDESLESS - ALways LOOKING ! 99 E320 THE Queen Mary - SOLD 62 220b - Dolly - Finally my Finny! Sadly SOLD 72 450SL, Pearl-SOLD 16 F350 6.7 Diesel -THOR 19 BMW X5 - Heaven on Wheels 14 38HP John Deere 3038E Tractor -Mean Green 84 300SD, Benjamin -SOLD 71 220 - W115-Libby ( my first love) -SOLD 73 280 - W114 "Organspende" Rest in Peace 81 380 SL - Rest in Peace |
#17
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Old tires with very few miles - Still OK to drive?
Have any of you ever pulled a pair of underwear out of the bottom of your underwear drawer, one that has no holes and hasn't even been worn too much, one that's no older that the ones in your daily routine? And then when you pull that elastic, it just stretches out and doesn't snap back at all?
That's what using an unused 20 year old spare is like. It WILL delaminate on you when you try to use it because it hasn't been flexed at all. One that's been used will be less likely to fail. I am a participant in dragging some 20-30 parts cars to a warehouse via a dolly. We ALWAYS bring spare wheels because we never expect the tires to make it. I've rolled the dice MANY times, and even dragged piles of crap home that I let the tires blow out one at a time. I think in dragging probably 20 some cars, none have had tires less than 10 years old. Only four tires in total have blown out, and none have failed in less than a half hour of highway speeds. Of course we tried not to use the oldest tires we could find, and when the car was nice, we would at least swap in some "tested" tires. Tested means we've put hours of use on them without them blowing out on us in the last year or so, Sort of like the underwear. Nothing worse than a spare that's never been flexed at all. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Past mb: '73 450sl, '81 280slc stick, '71 250, '72 250c, '70 250c, '79 280sl, '73 450sl, parted: '75 240d stick, '69 280s, '73 450slc, '72 450sl, |
#18
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I can't see the early signs of a slipped belt but I can feel them. And I once had a vibration set in during a long trip. Nothing severe but I could feel it. When I stopped for gas one tire looked as if it had grown a lump. And that lump was a slipped belt. They don't look pretty when they get that big. |
#19
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Quote:
Also, you don't know if the example tire was, in the past , bolted to the car and driven low on air. This will cause internal damage that is visible only when removed from the wheel. |
#20
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One of problems, was that replacement tires are very hard to find. Tirerack may have cheap 205-70/14s but do they have H-rated or higher speed rating tires the car requires? I decided to change my tires anyway, but had to buy T-rated tires. Only T-rated or better tires I could find in Canada other than one no-name from China, were Toyo (from Japan). In US there are one or two more choices for T-rated. In some jurisdictions, T-rated tires wouldn't pass safety checks - tires should meet manufacturer's original specs. But what to do if those tires are no longer readily available?
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Graham 85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5 |
#21
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The one day when I was checking tire pressures, I saw this big bulge out of one sidewall! And it was leaking air. Put the spare on and headed straight to tire dealer. Put T-rated Toyos on that car too. No highway vibration and I hadn't yet got around to doing alignment.
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Graham 85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5 |
#22
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You had H 130 mph rated tires on the SL? Wonder what I had on my 6.3 back in the early 70's?
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#23
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Quote:
One source was Vredestein. C$391 each Tires Problem I read is that the current tire speed ratings may not have existed in 1972. So in some jurisdiction they require tires that match the maximum speed of car. Max speed for a 1972 350SL was 213kph (~132mph). But there was a Euro 350SL and a NA 350SL (which was really a 450SL) Top speed for 73 450SL was 202kph or 126mph. So H rated would be correct if it was possible to get authorities to believe there were two different 1972 350SLs!
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Graham 85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5 |
#24
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Wow. To tell the truth I would have probably been comfortable back then driving it on the expressway at 125. Not any more. Drove my 6.3 like that and, as I remember, it had progressive power steering so the faster you go the less power steering so you could control the vehicle better. At least as I remember.
That said I guess I believe that today's cars are actually safer at pretty high speeds; they just do not last very long. |
#25
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I always hear the "They do not last very long" thing. The average age of cars on American roads is at an all-time high, over 11 years old for the average car. I have a pedestrian sedan, 18 years old, with 210k miles that can still cruise at high speeds comfortably
Tires... depending on condition & how they were treated, can be a mixed bag. The full-sized spare for my car, I bought over 10 years ago from a junkyard car (it was one of its main tires, not a spare), and I used it as recently as 6 months ago. For about two years. On the highway, too. I know it's at least 12 years old. It's starting to crack but looks better than the 3 year-old Michelins I took off my Jeep when I replaced them last year. I wouldn't have trusted those (even if they had tread) in another 3 years, at the rate they were cracking - but apparently that's a common Michelin problem.
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Current: 2021 Charger Scat Pack Widebody "Sinabee" 2018 Durango R/T Previous: 1972 280SE 4.5 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited "Hefe", 1992 Jeep Cherokee Laredo "Jeepy", 2006 Charger R/T "Hemi" 1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k |
#26
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It was clean enough to eat off of. It still had some original ink on the tread from the maker. It was just old. I had always wondered just how far one of the 'never been on the ground' tires would last. So I decided to find out. And now I know. |
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