Oh NO! Another tire thread?

[missouriboy]

Tires have a shelf life of a maximum of about 5 years, even if you never put it on a vehicle! And the shelf life is shortened if the tire is not stored properly in a 'stable' environment with the ambient temp that remains within a certain range, has no exposure to direct light, little 'moving air' or breezes, & even has the right sort of shelving so the tire can sit on it the right way!!

All tires are made of several layers (or belts/bands) of various rubber compounds that each 'breathe' over time, & once some of those layers have lost a certain amount of the air-dispensable compounds that start getting lost to the atmosphere from the moment the tire first leaves the mould, the belts of rubber compound that are left behind are a whole different deal to what the tire was designed to run on or what it even needs to work safely on the road; they go hard, lose the ability to provide traction, crack when the tire flexes, won't hold air, & become far more prone to sudden & catastrophic blow-outs & punctures!!
<snip>
Just sayin'

After way less than a year I've noticed my Altimax breaking traction way, way more easily than when it was new. I can be cruising steady in 2nd gear @15-20mph on smooth asphalt and just crack the throttle to make it spin and fishtail for 30-40 feet or so. Once when beginning to pass a semi @ about 40mph in 3rd gear, it spun sideways a bit just from cracking the throttle, not shifting or anything. I dare not open the flues in 1st gear, lest it sit there and melt the tire away!

And I'm carrying only 21-24 psi in this tire. And this only happens ryding single; I haven't tried with 2-up.

Now I don't know, but I've heard tell, that "discount" tire places buy up "old" new tires and dump them at lower prices, just to salvage the inventory. Makes sense to me from a marketing standpoint, I guess.

I don't know how to interpret the sidewall numbers to determine the age of this tire. Perhaps someone here could tell me, and we'll all learn the age of this tire?

[Peter Aawen]

There will be a 4 numeric code on the sidewall somewhere that represents the week number & year of the tire's manufacture - sometimes that number is preceeded by DOT, especially in the UK, EU, & AUS, but I'm not too sure about the US anymore - I haven't kept up with it all since 'retirement'. Buuut, the numeric string of saaay 1814 will mean that your tire was made in the 18th week of 2014. So, check out your tire sidewalls!

While it's generally accepted that tires have a 'safe working life' of 6 years by the bulk of the industry, there are a couple of manufacturers who reckon their tires are good for 10 years. Regardless, here in Aus, it's illegal for a tire retailer to sell tires that any more than 5 years old, so even from the less reputable outlets you will generally get a tire with at least a life expectancy of one year. The 'better places' out there usually err on the side of caution & keep fresh stock all the time, moving the unsold older stuff off to budget outlets or warehouse stores, which means their customers might pay a bit more but they rarely get a tire that's much more than a year old. However, as you've heard, some of the cheap outlets buy up the 'getting close to no longer legal' stock & flog em off at low prices to the unsuspecting public. We also fairly frequently see online scammers who pop up & advertise quality tires but deliver sub-standard or knock-off tires from the dodgier O/seas manufacturers, at least until they start getting a few bad reviews, then they disappear under that name & pop up under a different name, often something close to the name of one of the better know reputable outlets! I'd guess that you probably have at least some of the same or similar low-lives doing business in North America, they tend to work on the basis of there being suckers everywhere & are usually happy enough to rip anyone off! I guess you pay your money & take your chances, which is why I never buy 'cheap tires' or 'cheap brake pads'!!

[Richardv]

are you saying that, you have the Kuhmo Ecsta AST? If so, I will be buying one today.

.... and actually, we have 3 of them. From discount tire direct. No questions asked, when I ordered just 3.....

[missouriboy]

Peter Aawen: "the numeric string of saaay 1814 will mean that your tire was made in the 18th week of 2014."

Okay, thanks. I found 1015, so it was built mid March 2015. That's even newer than my front tires, which are 0115.

[KX5062]

On 4/26/17 the new Altimax tire reached 17,000 miles, catching up with the retirement age of the Kenda. Let's see how it looks...

I had a tire professional measure the tread and he came up with 65% tread still remaining... That's only 1/3 worn out! When the Kenda was shot.

You're life span was quite a bit better than mine with the Altimax. I only got about 15k miles and it was shot. However, I think it might be related to driving condition. I ride mostly in the Southwest in higher temperatures and many of the roads are chip sealed.

I am currently trying out a Cooper CS5, which has a harder compound and stiffer sidewall. Once I have some more miles I will post up my observations.

[mob133]

I just mounted my 2nd Kuhmo. The 1st one got just short of 15,000 miles, as compared to my 2 Kendas that got 8300 each. You have to buy the Kuhmo from eBay. Discount Tire Direct Will interigate you to death and shake you down, makng you feel like a criminal, if you try to buy direct.

do a search for a vehicle with that size tire,enter that info and order 2 tires .discount tires will put the order right through

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

do a search for a vehicle with that size tire,enter that info and order 2 tires .discount tires will put the order right through

OR save yourself ALL the Hassles and just buy them on-line like I do ....... the major tire sellers have become the freaking tire police .... so screw-um ...... most times they ship for free and are less $ , on-line ........... jmho .... Mike

[Deanna777]

and what size is this? too lazy to look it up.need to get one and put it away.
have a set of frt kendas on the black rims i can take off when needed. that
ought to make it till im too old to ride.

Size of the General that I am running is 215/60R15 on the rear. There is clearance between the top of the tire, and the bottom of the trunk on my 2014RTS-SE6.

The spyder handles fantastic. I had the original kenda tire changed @ 5,824 miles. I now have 10,720 miles on the rear tire, and I still have a lot of tread left. This is will be my 2nd motorcycle season with the General Altimax RT 43 on the rear of the spyder.


Deanna