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Date:         Fri, 1 Jan 2010 22:41:01 -0800
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Snow tires... 2 or 4?
Comments: To: Mark A Kippert <vanagon@kippert.com>
In-Reply-To:  <D1DC1EB7-7002-4AC6-8FB9-A02626635082@kippert.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Yes, there is a marking on the sidewall that gives the build date. You will have to Google tire markings or maybe go on Tire Rack or somesuch to get an explaination of the various things that are written on a tire's sidewalls. Tires do get hardened with age..The material reacts with the atmosphere and also is temperature sensitive. Tires stored in a cool shady place with a fairly steady temp last pretty well..

Tires used in racing are often inspected for age and older ones not deemed safe to race on. The sidewall code..I forget where that is..is what is used to pass or fail a tire on it's age. Probably not too critical on a van, given the speeds and cornering loads these vans are 'capable' of attaining..but still...something to look at...I don't think I would choose to use tires over about 4-5yrs old...But I probably have, plenty of times in the past.. I know the tires on my racecar turned into hockey pucks after about 5 20min. outings on the track, but that was with tread temps at 180f +... Don Hanson On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 9:59 PM, Mark A Kippert <vanagon@kippert.com> wrote:

> Not looking to start another tire thread, just a question on how many, > and how old. I'm looking at a set of 4 Blizzak tires at a local used > tire store.These are actually new that I'm considering, I just don't > know their age. They want $200 for a set of 4, mounted and balanced > (no warranty that I know of). > > First, am I better off with just putting tires on the rear or is there > an advantage to running them on all four corners? > > Second, since snow tires are only run a few month out of the year (at > least here in Indy) I'm guessing they spend a lot of time stacked in > the garage. I don't drive my van much as it's a 3rd car so snow tires > won't see a lot of miles (maybe a 1000 or so a year). So is there a > life expectancy on snows? > > BTW, Is there a way to determine how old a tire is? These look good > but I don't want to buy a set of tires that are so old they'll only be > good for a few seasons. > > Mark K > 1986 GL/2WD/4SPD >


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