A buddy bought a nice car that sat in a garage for 13 years and had new Dunlaps on it.

He had nice wheels and tires for the car and gave me the dunlaps for my car.

The dunlaps were not flat but did sit on concrete for all this time and in one spot and they have flat spots you can easily see while the tires are not mounted.

I am thinking if I wait for summer when the blacktop gets to 100 degrees and inflate them to near max that I might get rid of the flat spots after driving them for a while.

Any other suggestions for a remedy to this?

I tried running them in the cold but the thump, thump, thump was way too pronounced and annoying.

Gary

 

The tires are 13 years old also? They are done for, get rid of them.

 

Yeah flat spotting is probably the least of your worries with those tires, I say toss them as well.

 

Yeah, the rubber compounds aren't supposed to last that long. Even in the dark away from ozone, etc.

Over-inflating to remove flat-spotting is kinda hit or miss anyway. If you insist on using them, beware they may fail soon.

 

I did think about all of the above and I have looked the tires over very well.

Not to say anyone is wrong but there is no sign of cracking or checking anywhere and the car was in a cool and dark but completely dry garage all this time.

The tires were mounted and the car got rolled in to the garage and left there until my buddy bought it.

Think I will see if Dunlap will respond if I ask them this same question.

Thanks Guys

Gary

 

I'm sure for liability purposes they will say not to run them. Just think, when those tires were made I was just a wee little lad.

 

VERY INTERESTING, I just got a response from Dunlap, actually Goodyear.

Age of the tires is not as important as the conditions they were kept in and the actual condition of the rubber itself!

They suggest I take the tires to a dealer and have them inspected for weather cracking and rubber flexibility.

I already had the dealer check them good and he says they are fine but to run them a while and check them again for hairline cracking. He seems to think if i run them on a real hot summer day the flat spots will probably work themselves out after the rubber gets good and hot.

According to his, so called "Expert" opinion, he says with the hairs still on the treads and at over $80 each he would be doing what ever he could to get some use out of them but keeping a good eye on them. He also told me he has a nice 69 GTO with redlines on it that are over 25 years old and good as gold but it is always stored with the tires off the ground.

Gary

 

OK, but I think the key here is "keeping a good eye on them".
After this conversation, I think you're aware of the possibility that they may deteriorate much faster than a NEW set of tires.

 

I totally agree Jim but considering the car is used for running back and forth to town and on all secondary back roads I suppose they should be OK. It is very rare that I ever get out on the 2 lane or much above 50 MPH.

Rubber is some pretty strange stuff. I have a black rubber gas mask that was my dads from WWll and it is as good today as the day it was made and not a sign of cracking or aging.
I also have a scuba mask that appears to be made of the same rubber and it is shot.

I called a buddy who has a 1970 AAR Cuda 340 with 13,000 original miles on it and the original tires and he claims they are fine but he wouldn't want to run at any serious speeds with them. He keeps them off the ground also durring the winter storage to avoid the flat spots.

My neighbor who is now 85 has a bone stock 1951 Chevy pick up with less then 10,000 original miles and it has never even been registered for the road because it is his farm truck.
It still has the original tires but they are pretty well weather checked. I was born in '52 and I'm not all that pretty either after 57 years! :-))))

Gary