[DeTomaso] old tires

Art Stephens artstephens at verizon.net
Mon Apr 19 20:05:47 EDT 2010


Must have resulted in some serious pucker!


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "michael at michaelshortt.com" <michaelsavga at gmail.com>
To: "Charles McCall" <charlesmccall at gmail.com>
Cc: <rtaspl at aol.com>; <DeTomaso at realbig.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2010 5:54 PM
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] old tires


>i couldn't write more earlier from my cell phone but wanted to share a
> story.  i was almost killed in 2003 because of an old tire.  i had just
> bought a motorcoach near Ocala, Fl and was driving it away from the place
> where i bought it towards Savannah, Ga.  Back two lane roads to get back 
> to
> up to Orlando, exactly 7 miles from the dealer, the left front tire blew 
> out
> and the Motorcoach veered left into the oncoming lane, right in the path 
> of
> a semi truck and trailer loaded with cattle.  Luckily, I have a little 
> upper
> body strength and i man handled the motorcoach back into my lane just as 
> the
> semi's mirrors sheared my mirrors off the drivers side.  the tires were 7
> years old.  i will never drive on tires older than 5 years old under any
> circumstances, esp at 100 mph.   In my case, tire destroyed, inner fender
> well destroyed, brake lines destroyed, wheel destroyed.  fiberglass damage
> was fixable.
> The Oh S&^% moment came weeks later when I saw what kind of structure the
> motorcoach
> had under the fiberglass nose and above the steel frame work of the 
> chassis,
> virtually NOTHING.  If the semi truck with it's 80,000 of mass would have
> actually hit me head on, i would have been a speed bump covered in cow 
> turds
> spread out for 300 yards on a back Florida road.
>
> A catastrophic tire failure at 100 mph in a Pantera could kill you, you 
> can
> kill other people, you will destroy the wheel at a minimum, body damage if
> you are just lucky.
>
> Park the car until you put tires on it PLEASE.
>
> Michael Shortt
>
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 3:35 PM, Charles McCall 
> <charlesmccall at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> I had a set of Pirelli P7R's, in 345-35-15 flavor, split wide open on me 
>> in
>> less than 30 miles.
>>
>> Brand new tires (un-used), with gorgeous treads and the little rubber
>> nipple
>> things but they split right down the middle. I repeat - they had 30 miles
>> on
>> them when they failed.
>>
>> They were also 12 years old. I was lucky and was going about 25mph when I
>> heard a "BANG!!!!!!". I pulled over to see what the noise was and noticed
>> the car sagging to one side.
>>
>> 15" tires are hard to find and can be expensive.
>>
>> Massive body work on your car, or extensive surgery on you because your
>> tire
>> blew out in the first curve can be even more expensive.
>>
>> After first-hand experience with a quality tire that blew out on me, I
>> won't
>> run old tires again, regardless of how nice and new the treads look...
>>
>> Charles McCall
>> 1985 DeTomaso Pantera GT5-S #9375
>> "Raising Pantera Awareness Across Europe"
>> http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=2323
>> -----Mensaje original-----
>> De: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] En
>> nombre de JDeRyke at aol.com
>> Enviado el: domingo, 18 de abril de 2010 20:59
>> Para: rtaspl at aol.com
>> CC: DeTomaso at realbig.com
>> Asunto: Re: [DeTomaso] old tires
>>
>> In a message dated 4/18/10 8:26:09 AM, michaelsavga at gmail.com writes:
>>
>> > So the BIG question to the group is - are the (9 yr old) tires safe to
>> > run over 100mph or is it a heat/time thing?
>> >
>> Every case is different. I've run premium older tires well over100mph 
>> until
>> cord shows. Others have had cheap near-new tires delaminate at 60 mph,
>> causing body damage. Racing tires have no age-fighting chemicals in their
>> compounds so they age faster. Its also where the tires spent most of 
>> their
>> time.
>> Ozone and sulfur gasses in the atmosphere attack rubber compounds and 
>> crack
>> the sidewalls & treads, even inside garages. Time and high storage
>> temperatures (or low inflation pressure that overheat the skins) also 
>> ages
>> &
>> drives
>> out plasticizers from the rubber, making them harder and more prone to
>> crack.
>> Stored in downtown areas where there are many industrial pollutants
>> floating
>>
>> around, tires might last a couple of years. A useful gauge is whether
>> freshly-polished silverware turns black while you watch; the same
>> pollutants
>>
>> cause silver-blackening.
>> Stored indoors, in quiet pollution-free rural areas away from factories 
>> or
>> electric motors which generate ozone, tires   can last a good decade or
>> more. A pro inspection will tell you more- and this will not likely come
>> from a
>> highschool dropout at the gas station who sells on commission. I'd take 
>> the
>> mounted tires to someone who distributes race tires; he's likely more
>> knowlegable and more interested in keeping you alive so you'll come back
>> again.
>> Bottom line- its the same as a safety helmet; if you want to be perfectly
>> safe, junk 'em every few years. If you're poor, get them pro-inspected
>> before
>> spending more time & hard-earned money. Pilotsports are getting scarce
>> these days!
>> My 2¢- J DeRyke (NOT a tire engineer, just a consumer. Use above at your
>> own risk!)
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>
>
>
> -- 
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Michael L. Shortt
> Savannah, Georgia
> www.michaelshortt.com
> michael at michaelshortt.com
> 912-232-9390
>
>
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