are old tires ok?????

my 99 boxster has 13000 miles,i dont think the tires have ever been changed since the the car was built.The tires have good tread left.But is it ok that there that old
thanks

[MNBoxster]

Originally Posted by blkboxster

my 99 boxster has 13000 miles,i dont think the tires have ever been changed since the the car was built.The tires have good tread left.But is it ok that there that old
thanks

Hi,

Tread depth isn't the only metric to keeping your tires. The compounds which a tires is made of starts to harden from the day it is produced. Over time, this hardening compromises both the grip and the tire's ability to manage heat, plus their potential to delaminate rises proportionately as well. It's as much an issue of Safety as it is one of protecting all that expensive sheet metal.

5 years is the very most you should keep a set of tires for this reason. For a performance tire, 4 years is more appropriate. So, unfortunately, I'd say you're due. Hate to throw all that good tread away, but that's the way it goes. Just be sure on the new set to use them all up in 4 years...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

[Ghostrider 310]

Unless the tires display severe weatherchecking or there is an obvious problem you can trace to them, you might consider running them. If you like to push the car to your absolute driving limits you should consider changing them. I'm sure there are tires in the supply chain that have sat a year or two, I don't see any companies tossing them out.

[WoBoxster]

My car was the same way as of last week. It's a 1998 with 12,500 miles on it. The Front tires were from 1997 and the backs were from 1998. All the tires had about %50 tread on them. I just put some new Michelin's on it. Check the DOT # on the tires to find out when they were made. It's 4 digit number and the last 2 are the year they were made.

[blue2000s]

For the reasons MNBoxster states, the general concensus among tire manufacturers is 10 years for any tire and 6 years for unmounted tires. But it should be noted that this can vary from tire to tire.

http://www.ford.com/en/innovation/safety/resources/tireSafety.htm

Look under "age", Ford has good reason to be cautious about this too.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=138

[teacher]

Originally Posted by blue2000s

For the reasons MNBoxster states, the general concensus among tire manufacturers is 10 years for any tire and 6 years for unmounted tires. But it should be noted that this can vary from tire to tire.

http://www.ford.com/en/innovation/safety/resources/tireSafety.htm

Look under "age", Ford has good reason to be cautious about this too.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=138

I read that Boxsters eat up tires, but still, I haven't seen why...what I mean is unless you smoke your tires at the get go (and I have) you still have tread, I'm thinking that I have to buy tires eventually on this used and great Porsche, yet why all the clamor about replacing tires? And if so, what are the best tires to buy, knowing that they will soon have to be replaced? (going on this philosophy of tread wear). Thanks

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by teacher

I read that Boxsters eat up tires, but still, I haven't seen why...what I mean is unless you smoke your tires at the get go (and I have) you still have tread, I'm thinking that I have to buy tires eventually on this used and great Porsche, yet why all the clamor about replacing tires? And if so, what are the best tires to buy, knowing that they will soon have to be replaced? (going on this philosophy of tread wear). Thanks

The rear tires on the Boxster and pretty much any other rear-weight biased vehicle will wear out faster than the fronts for two reasons. 1) In order to add stability to the car, the rear wheels are biased towards toe-in. 2) The rear weight bias increases the friction on the rear tires as compared to the fronts. In addition, any higher performance tire tends to wear faster because of it's softer compound. So no matter how gingerly you drive, this car will run through tires faster than the average.

What tires to buy? It depends on what you are going to use the car for.