Technical question here... Jeb and I are in a debate about the quality of his tires. They are really nice tires, if they were new...however, they've sat around for about a year (from what I know) and the top of the sidewalls where the tread meets are dry-rotted. Not cracked...dry-rotted. You can actually see into the cracks a little bit, but not down to the radials or the kevlar level. I said he needs new tires. He drives...aggressively...around turns and I told him that that portion of the tire is crucial to him not dying. He said the sidewall is stiff enough (which it is, like I said, it's a nice tire) and the only tread that matters is on the surface of the tire around the outer-most radius, the portion that generally touches the road. Who's correct? The main reason I'm asking is because we are planning on taking his car on the mountain run, but I'm very leary about riding in a car if the tires are going to blow out on a mountain road where there's no real safe out for a blow out. Opinions?
If there's any doubt as to the integrity of a tire, i always say don't drive on it. Its not worth a blowout when you have something like a semi or a 100 foot drop directly to your right.
Old tires lose alot of grip as they dry out. Your buddy may not realize it until he runs with other ppl who have good tires. Old tires are good for drifting in a parking lot, but borderline dangerous to drive fast on in the mountains if you try to run past their limits, like hot into a corner and understeer over the double yellows. Smart to be safe.
how do you determine if your tires are "old"? I have a set of tires that are mounted and stored in a pretty cool place and I see nothing that shows any hints of aging, trying to learn here, thanks.
That's tougher to call. Cracks in the sidewall is obvious. Sidewalls shiny but dry/ not tacky is another. Dry feel on the treadblocks after driving. Otherwise you can tell on the road, howling or scrubbing around corners. I let my original Bridgestones get too old, it got really easy to power oversteer in 1st/2nd which is great fun, but started understeering in sweepers which was not good.