How long are tires good?

I have made over 100k with the tires on my 1996 pete that sat for 4.5 years. I will have to go out and look but I'm betting they are over 6 years old. Notice I said I would have to look cause I never have. My Dad always said a fool and his money will soon part. If you make it a month and make 10k you have paid for a new set. And no I would not drive 75 on them.
Not all rubber laying on the road come from recaps.

 

Yeah, your dad needs lessons on liabilities. One accident with old tires means opening the door for a good lawsuit, especially with an ambulance chasing pos lawyer that's advertising on bill boards about truck accidents.

To the OP, if you are putting that much effort into the truck, just replace the tires. It will save you problems later on.

 

I second the opinion on recaps. I don't run them ,they cause too much damage when they let go. Almost all rubber I've ever seen on the road is all recaps,I've had virgin tires blow but never come apart like a recap.
As far as the OP's original question , it depends on the condition of those tires and if they are recaps or virgin tires and the DOT age of those tires .It is a nice feeling having new virgin tires to start out with . If the budget is there replace them and use the original tires as spares in your spare tire rack on your trailer as emergency tires on the road . If the budget is tight ,and they are in good shape and within DOT spec on the age run them until you make some money and change them out.
Another important thing is is ,check the lug nuts with a torque wrench to make sure they are all torqued to spec . Most tire guys just hammer them on with a 1" air gun and don't use a torque wrench . Many over tighten them them as a good 1" air gun
Can throw over 2000lbs of torque actually stretching the studs that can cause them to break and lose a set of duals ,recommended torque on lug nuts is 500-550 lbs depending on who you ask. They also loosen up a little over time and should be rechecked.

 

Toss them.

You do not want to run recaps on tires, and you do not want older rotted tires in the heatof the summer or the stressful freezing of winter.

If your tractor is any good at all and you intend to put it back to work, go buy a whole set of 10 nice tires for it.

Don't forget to verify the front end alingment etc. Go over everything else that is rubber in that tractor. new fuel lines, new glad hand airlines and so on. Spend a dollar now and be done with it.

Some of you will throw tomato at me and say Im way too expensive with other people's money. I offer you this thought. If you did not fix something simple and your rig broke 300 miles from Salt Lake City or 200 from Denver and nothing moving no how without a tow to either one because you were too tight fisted to spend 50 dollars on the part that broke when you had the chance to.

 

Very well said.
Road service companies love recaps and hot weather.....

 

TOO Each their own.

A thousand bucks In Steers is not worth my life much less the stress off worring about my tires

 

Good quality caps on good quality casings are fine. The problem is so many guys buy the cheapest stuff there is. And then never stick them with a gauge and run them low, which is what leads to blowouts.

Also if you look at the gators toy see on the road, the majority of them have steel bands sticking out. That's a casing failure, not the cap coming off.

 

The problem with caps is if you Catch a nail or screw or something that will give you a flat and you don't know it's going flat and it's hot out and your loaded,there's a good chance that cap will come apart and do damage. A virgin tire won't do that. There's too many variables in getting a "good" recap to take the chance. When we bought our Western Star back in October the dealer put all new caps on the drives.
While on the test drive bobtailing a "new" recap on a Bridgestone casing blew apart. I agree that's something odd ,but it happened. When we got the truck home we changed out all the drives to new virgin tires. We would have to have done it anyway since we run a 107k overweight permit in NY State and we have to run 16 ply H rated tires and DOT cops definitely look for it when they inspect you.
There is a cap I've seen that in my opinion is better than the standard cap it's a ring cap. The cap is all one piece there's no seam on the cap like a standard recap.

 

Don't trust old and in my case DON'T buy cheap.

Went going down hill at that. Made it shoulder safely. Kept it straight and didn't panic

 

Reliably? 5 years is the recommended Max.

Steer tires are nothing to play around with.


Trailer tires can give more leeway if you're willing to risk damaging your trailer from blowouts.


I personally don't play the cheap tire gambling game, is not worth the risk to yourself or others, aggravation or damages....

However, if tires are kept well, not parked on dirt and out of sunlight, they can last years longer.
Sunlight and Dirt dry the tires out at very fast rates.