Hey Guys,

I just picked up some AP2 wheels with Michelin Pilot Super Sports. I was stoked that the wheels came with tires with practically 100% tread and the guy told me they were just put on 6 months ago. Later (should have done it before purchasing), I checked the manufacture week/year after the DOT logo and it says it was made in 2012! These wheels/tires must have been taken off the car practically new and been sitting in this guys garage for years... WTF man!

Thought I was getting a decent deal at $840 for the AP2 wheels and 6 month old Michelin PSS, but now I feel like I got ripped off

My question is, if the tread is perfect but the tire is almost 4-5 years old... How old is too old for a tire with good tread?

Thanks!

 

Although the seller may have lied, it is very possible they were put on 6 months ago. It is probably more a case of a tire shop selling older tires as new. I wouldn't worry about it too much unless they were exposed to harsh conditions.

 

Agreed. No cracks in the rubber? If not, I wouldn't give it a second thought.

 

There actually are very minor surface cracks on the top of the tread. To me, any cracks, even almost imperceivable, in a tire means it is a no go. Which is why i suspected the tires were not put on 6 months ago as the seller had told me.

I'll upload a picture tomorrow so we can conclude this haha. I really wanted to be able to just slap these on and use as daily beater wheels for the summer.

 

Your tires aren't that old. My rears were produced in 08 and the fronts 2010. I tracked on these last summer. Its not what id prefer as i can tell the rubber is getting a little hard, but they still work and predictable enough, certainly for the street. As long as the tire is in good structural integrity I wouldn't worry about yours. I think the general consensus on safe tire integrity is about 6 years, but of course climate/environment is going to have a large bearing on this. I think up to 8-10 years can be doable if there is no visual compromise in the rubber. But its a sports car first and foremost, so performance should be the focal point, safety goes along with that of course, but I think the performance attributes degrade much sooner then the actual safety aspect of the tire. So guess it just comes down to how anal you are about your rubber.

 

You're generally fine running tires that are four, five, or even six years old as long as they aren't cracking and still grip as they should. That doesn't sound like a garbage set of tires at all so if the wheels were in good shape too you did ok, just make sure to give them some use and plan on replacing them within a couple years with a fresh set when they are worn.

If those were competition tires that you purchased (like Hoosiers) I believe the age would have more of an effect assuming I remembered correctly..otherwise I'm just misleading and I apologize lol.

 

Sidewall cracking is what I look for. 3 and 4 year old tires seldom have it. Market for AP2Vx wheels seems to be running about $600 for a set so you got decent tires for about $60 each. Stroll thru any parking lot and look at the tires on 10 year old cars. I'll bet many are safely running even older tires.

-- Chuck

 

PSS on my FD were done at that age. The worst aging tires I've ever experienced in my 25 or so years of sports car ownership and tracking! I put them on the car Spring 2012, and by Fall 2014 it was like they had heat-cycled to death, no grip whatsoever. They did one partial track-day in their lives, and covered ~20k miles. Rears still had half tread depth remaining. Actually had an incident and tweaked fender. Tires also tried to kill the very experienced and conscientious V8 RX-7 specialist, he got into a wicked tank-slapper on the road his shop is on. REcentely replaced them with RE71Rs and the car is all sweet-handling again (Although one track day at TGPR just about used up the outside rear)

Beware! Seriously. New mine were fine, but aged, they were literally the lowest-grip tires I've ever driven on.

 

That fine cracking you see on the treads, not sidewalks, can be common. Does not affect the safety of the tire. Michelin makes Aviation X tires for our jets and you see those tread cracks on brand new tires. The same thing can happen and does, as you see, on auto tires.

Tire shops will not handle tires>10 years old for liability. (Repair, balancing) I had some Chinese tires on a Tacoma (just bought it a month prior) with great tread literally come apart merging on the freeway; they were 8 years old. Grip does decline with age, I have heard anecdotal comments that 5-6 years and the tires decline.

I think your tires are safe and you should use them up as fast as you can. I bought Super Sports Summer two years ago and I love them. Still careful in the rain despite great wet grip and on the snow they are completely worthless.

 

Thank guys! I think I'll just run them since they are just my street tires. I have another set of Advan RS2 with Hankook RS3 for track.

Im running 18" RPF1s right now for street, but wanted my alignment to be the same for street and track and the RPF1 were 18x10 +38 (came with the car) so I need to run too much camber. Pain in the ass to change camber every time switching from street to track wheels. Thats why I got the AP2 wheels, because I could run them at the same alignment as the track wheels.