Thought you lot might be the only group of people who would care. . . But my 72 olds has the OG “Winston Winner G/T” brand tires. Obviously will be gone when they are gone. But no obvious cracks or excessive wear! Crazy!!!

 

What am I missing here? Apparently something important, but you're gonna have to 'splain it to me.

 

the whitewall tire brand doesn’t exist anymore

 

What is the date code on those tires?

 

date codes? They don't have dates!

 

10 years or older they're junk and dangerous. You're gambling. The problem spots often cannot be seen. You cannot see internal delamination.
Nice looking (Car too) but how safe? Worth a blowout???

 

Those are not stock tires. Winston went out of business in the early 2000's, bought out by Goodyear. Time for a tire change.

 

I'm pretty sure all tires have a date code. The date code format changed in 2000.
Prior to 2000 the date code was a three digit number only code; after 2000 the date code was a four digit number only code. Either the three number or four number code is the last all number code in the DOT sidewall stamp.
Prior to 2000 a three digit code (first two digits) and the year (one digit) of production. Example: if the last three digits are 439, the tire was produced in the 43rd week of 1999.
After 2000 a four digit code (first two digits) and the year (two digits) of production. Example: if the last four digits are 4302, the tire was produced in the 43rd week of 2002.

 

Ha! I think your humor (if I'm not mistaken) went right over my head. I had to think about that for a minute.

 

I think they are pretty cool looking tires but I wouldn't drive over 40mph on those tires due to age. As mentioned it is time for new tires. Most of the time on collector cars we never wear tires out, we have to replace them due to age. You life and the life of your loved ones is not worth the price of a set of tires.

 

🤣 look for the stone tablet with hieroglyphics near the valve stem.

They're unsafe at any speed. Replace them, but do a bunch of gratuitous burnouts for a proper sendoff, first.

 

The problem with that, and mind you I'm all for the fun part, is sometimes the tire will come apart and take body sheet metal with it. Don't ask me how I know.

 

Driving through (I believe it was) Utah a number of years ago, I watched a flat tire go bad on a 5th-wheel camper driving down the interstate (I've actually witnessed similarities over the years). The round tire split in two, became elongated still attached to the wheel and beat the living snot out of the entire rear quarter of the camper - pretty much leaving it in shreds.

 

Why y'all gotta ruin a good story with facts? Sheesh

 

I think you have posted that before, and I have posted this in response. Anyway, here it is again. I guess I drive a bit differently than the average CO member.

 

Ya Re doing suspension brakes and tires this weekend. Just found it interesting that they still existed in decent shape

 

 

Here is a good example of why you shouldn't trust old tires.
This tire was on the back of a car that i flat towed about 20 miles.
The next day it just EXPLODED just sitting in the sun.











I'm going to leave it to the tire gurus to tell me how old this one was.

 

i was in that club

 

An old acquaintance of mine was at a repair shop one day. Mechanic had him come into the shop to show him one of the tires on his Geo Prism.

"You see that bulge on the sidewall? You got yourself a maypop."

"A what? A maypop?"

"Yeah... your tire may pop while you're driving down the road. You need a new tire."

 

I give mine 6 years and they get replaced no matter what the treads look like. If you like those Winstons and you show the car, keep em to put on and off at the shows only & have an extra driver set for the other 365 days.

Blowouts suck. And who is going to be stocking a 14 inch tire these days out on the road. Even 15's.