Who has the oldest tires?

[Paul G]

I have not seen tires that look so good and are so old as the ones on this 1971 Grande I recently purchased. They are only 2 digit DOT date coded tires. I had to look it up. Three digit date codes were used up to year 2000, after that they are four digit. First two digits are the week, last two digits are the year of manufacture. Take a look at these. They only have two digits. If this is correct they were made in the 9th week of 1991, or just 1991? .

 

[Don C]

All you know for sure is that they were made in the ninth week of a decade year of one. The decade could be 80 or 90, so could be 1981 or 1991, or even 1971 (doubtful). I too, would lean towards them being 1991. However, whichever year, they are long past being safe to use.

 

[72MustangSprint]

Can you say burnout ? I knew you could

 

[giantpune]

Careful with them old ass tires. We bought a chevelle for my mom. It was a 3.5hr drive each direction.

Tires on the car looked decent enough. Had one blow out on the way home, in atlanta traffic and it was like saturday evening. No place to buy a new tire at that hour. I got the ancient spare from the trunk on it and drove it the rest of the way back home, doing like 50mph and praying.

 

[ib4stangs]

I acquired this set of original tires and wheels from a 72 Grande' with 15K miles a while back. Buyer went with new BFG's and Magnums and advertised the set on craigslist. I kept one for a factory correct spare and sold the other 3 to Mustang owners for the same purpose.
A video of car with the salesman's pitch is below. Pretty exaggerated with some false claims but still entertaining...

 

[Steve73QMach1]

This Mach one has tires from mid 1993. I have only driven this car 40 miles in the last 12 years. It has only 53,000 original miles. The tires appear to be in great shape. I will be getting new tires for this car in the spring. I don’t want to take a chance on these.

 

[jakosaur]

Rubber gets harder and more slippery as it ages. After about 8-10 years, tires become crap.

 

[Paul G]

Old tires usually have tell tale signs. Cracking in the side walls near the rim, cracking between the tire tred, but these have none of that. I had to look for the date codes just to be sure of how old they really were. I was very surprised to find out the are three decades old or more. I am still driving on them for now. City driving short trips to cruise night is about all. I am going to put Magnum 500's on it. I have not run across a set of 4 yet. Found two 14"x7"s locally which I bought, need two more

What is more surprising is the wheels on the car now are 14"x7". That is a very wide for steel wheel with hubcaps.

 

[Stanglover]

Old tires usually have tell tale signs. Cracking in the side walls near the rim, cracking between the tire tred, but these have none of that. I had to look for the date codes just to be sure of how old they really were. I was very surprised to find out the are three decades old or more. I am still driving on them for now. City driving short trips to cruise night is about all. I am going to put Magnum 500's on it. I have not run across a set of 4 yet. Found two 14"x7"s locally which I bought, need two more

What is more surprising is the wheels are 14"x7". That is a very wide for steel wheel with hubcaps.

I'm confused. You say you want to put magnum 500's on. You found two 14x7 WITH hubcaps!! Are you talking about the wheels already on your car? I presume you are but.......... Magnums do not have hub caps of course, just center caps.
While on the subject of Magnums, I bought 14x7's and 14x8's (rear) from Summit which are Wheel Vintiques brand. There are other aftermarket 500's out there, but I have found these pretty good. 500's are "lug centric", which means they must be balanced on a machine with the appropriate adaptor. Also, NEVER use an impact wrench to tighten the lug nuts, hand only with a torque wrench. The set that were on my car when I bought it, had egg shaped holes from incorrect installation and they could not be properly balanced. Out of the 4, only one was suitable to be kept for a spare with a now 15 year old tire on it.
I do have an original never-been-on-the-road wheel and bias-ply tire that was in the trunk of the car when bought. Funny thing is, I have no pictures of it. That tire will be 53 years old shortly.

 

[Paul G]

I meant the wheels on the car now are 14x7, I clarified the post.

I'm confused. You say you want to put magnum 500's on. You found two 14x7 WITH hubcaps!! Are you talking about the wheels already on your car? I presume you are but.......... Magnums do not have hub caps of course, just center caps.
While on the subject of Magnums, I bought 14x7's and 14x8's (rear) from Summit which are Wheel Vintiques brand. There are other aftermarket 500's out there, but I have found these pretty good. 500's are "lug centric", which means they must be balanced on a machine with the appropriate adaptor. Also, NEVER use an impact wrench to tighten the lug nuts, hand only with a torque wrench. The set that were on my car when I bought it, had egg shaped holes from incorrect installation and they could not be properly balanced. Out of the 4, only one was suitable to be kept for a spare with a now 15 year old tire on it.
I do have an original never-been-on-the-road wheel and bias-ply tire that was in the trunk of the car when bought. Funny thing is, I have no pictures of it. That tire will be 53 years old shortly.

 

[72MustangSprint]

What do we win ? Besides a blowout I say we have a online video burnout contest with all the people who don’t care and roast that old rubber, IM IN ps my car is one wheel peel

 

[72MustangSprint]

Old tires usually have tell tale signs. Cracking in the side walls near the rim, cracking between the tire tred, but these have none of that. I had to look for the date codes just to be sure of how old they really were. I was very surprised to find out the are three decades old or more. I am still driving on them for now. City driving short trips to cruise night is about all. I am going to put Magnum 500's on it. I have not run across a set of 4 yet. Found two 14"x7"s locally which I bought, need two more

What is more surprising is the wheels on the car now are 14"x7". That is a very wide for steel wheel with hubcaps.

I have 4 original Magnums that are unrestored 15 X 7 please check out my classified listing for pictures.

 

[Ron Tanzi]

I'm confused. You say you want to put magnum 500's on. You found two 14x7 WITH hubcaps!! Are you talking about the wheels already on your car? I presume you are but.......... Magnums do not have hub caps of course, just center caps.
While on the subject of Magnums, I bought 14x7's and 14x8's (rear) from Summit which are Wheel Vintiques brand. There are other aftermarket 500's out there, but I have found these pretty good. 500's are "lug centric", which means they must be balanced on a machine with the appropriate adaptor. Also, NEVER use an impact wrench to tighten the lug nuts, hand only with a torque wrench. The set that were on my car when I bought it, had egg shaped holes from incorrect installation and they could not be properly balanced. Out of the 4, only one was suitable to be kept for a spare with a now 15 year old tire on it.
I do have an original never-been-on-the-road wheel and bias-ply tire that was in the trunk of the car when bought. Funny thing is, I have no pictures of it. That tire will be 53 years old shortly.

You are 100% correct that Magnum 500 wheels are lug centric. They do need to balanced with an adaptor that uses the lug holes and not the center to properly balance them. I bought my 15 x7 Magnums in 1996 and the box said that they are lug centric. I have a Snap on balancer and the lug adaptor plate. The adaptor comes in handy on some modern wheels like the ones on my Mazdas since all 3 centering cones I have will not fit them. It is certainly more time consuming to use the adaptor but they balance perfect. Like you I also have 1 original Wide Oval on a 14x6 steel wheel that came as the spare with my car. I stashed it in the basement as a conversation piece. A 54 year old tire that is as hard as a rock but still holds air!

Ron

 

[Stanglover]

You are 100% correct that Magnum 500 wheels are lug centric. They do need to balanced with an adaptor that uses the lug holes and not the center to properly balance them. I bought my 15 x7 Magnums in 1996 and the box said that they are lug centric. I have a Snap on balancer and the lug adaptor plate. The adaptor comes in handy on some modern wheels like the ones on my Mazdas since all 3 centering cones I have will not fit them. It is certainly more time consuming to use the adaptor but they balance perfect. Like you I also have 1 original Wide Oval on a 14x6 steel wheel that came as the spare with my car. I stashed it in the basement as a conversation piece. A 54 year old tire that is as hard as a rock but still holds air!

Ron

Very good comments Ron, thanks.

 

[ROCKET70]

The original radial tires from my 73 Grande with 14360 miles sat for 40 years still holds air and in my basement for 3 years still full.
The tires look good have no cracks but flat spotted. The radial tires were 3 dollars more then the Q code 351 engine.

 

[BUCKWHEAT]

I acquired this set of original tires and wheels from a 72 Grande' with 15K miles a while back. Buyer went with new BFG's and Magnums and advertised the set on craigslist. I kept one for a factory correct spare and sold the other 3 to Mustang owners for the same purpose.
A video of car with the salesman's pitch is below. Pretty exaggerated with some false claims but still entertaining...

View attachment 83886

You beat me. My 670-14 Silvertown spare is original to my 1973....

 

[ib4stangs]

You beat me. My 670-14 Silvertown spare is original to my 1973....

 

[Mister 4x4]

How about a set of 14x7 steelies with some sport caps shod with some no-name white walls I pulled from my pal Jim's '63 1/2 Galaxie 500 for rollers after he upgraded to his new wheels?





That didn't last long, however. New Cragar S/Ss w/Cooper Cobras (15x8 - 245/60R15 front, 15x10 - 295/50R15 rear). Probably never going back, either.

 

[rob smith]

Old tires usually have tell tale signs. Cracking in the side walls near the rim, cracking between the tire tred, but these have none of that. I had to look for the date codes just to be sure of how old they really were. I was very surprised to find out the are three decades old or more. I am still driving on them for now. City driving short trips to cruise night is about all. I am going to put Magnum 500's on it. I have not run across a set of 4 yet. Found two 14"x7"s locally which I bought, need two more

What is more surprising is the wheels on the car now are 14"x7". That is a very wide for steel wheel with hubcaps.

I just replaced a set of BF Goodrich tyres. They were 23 years old and looked as good as yours. Soft tread blocks, no cracks at all and plenty of tread left. Two weeks ago the inside wall simply let go. Be careful out there