Re: story about tyres on TV tonight

"Saab C900 Viggenist" <c900@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:g0h18i$qf4$2@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "Kwyjibo" <kwyjibo@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
>
>
>>"Saab C900 Viggenist" <c900@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>>news:g0eaqn$r2a$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> Hi who else saw the TV story about tyre retailing tonight? I didn't
get
>>> all
>>> of it (wasn't home until it was part-way through) but I noticed a lot
of
>>> talk about how we're all supposed to replace tyres after they're x 
>>> number
>>> of
>>> years old, and if they are more than a few years old since manufacture

>>> but
>>> not fitted to a car, or they're used tyres being re-sold, they
shouldn't
>>> be
>>> sold if they're more than a few years old.
>>>
>>> The big problem with this is that if regulators start mandating that 
>>> tyres
>>> more than 5 years old have to be defected (regardless of how much 
>>> they're
>>> actually worn), where are all the rejected tyres going to go
(recycling,
>>> landfill, elsewhere?), and why are we seeing this move all of a
sudden?
>>> Seems like there's something sneaky going on...
>
>>It's not 'sneaky' at all. It's been known for a long time (decades) that
>>tyre rubber hardens and becomes more brittle with age.
>
> Indeed, all rubber compounds degrade over time from vulcanisation and UV
> damage but to turn around and just say out of the blue that tyres 5 or 6
> years old or older are unsafe seems like a scare-mongering campaign 
> designed
> to prop up part of the after-market auto industry.

I have some perfectly preserved near-new Yokohama's dating back to 1990. 
They are perfectly servicable, pliable, etc etc. No doubt they are not as 
good as they were brand new but they'd be perfectly servicable within
their 
speed rating (H).

> No doubt with so much financial strain on families the tyre retailers
are
> having a harder time making a good profit (which is probably why all the
> Chinese tyres are appearing on the market).

I wonder about a friend who has 180000K (yes) on his OEM tyres. The van is

at least 10 years old.