I was surprised to learn that my local Firestone has four of the 195/65/15 FirehawkAS tires I want in stock. The tech at the shop was also surprised. I didn't think this was a popular size and I'm in a relatively small community so it got me wondering about how long those tires may have been sitting on the rack waiting for a buyer. So when I ask to check the manufacture date, what should be my cutoff? I've read anything from 1-2 years as max acceptable. I really can't predict whether I'll drive my car enough for tires to wear out rather than rot out so I don't want to put rubber with half its life gone already, but I also don't know what is reasonable to expect for freshness. Thoughts?

The tire manufacturers all quote useful age but I think a lot has to do with how they are stored. A tire mounted on a car and sitting in the weather, getting hit by the UV rays of the son, hot blacktop, even hotter diving temps, etc (in my opinion) is going to have a shorter lifespan than warehouse and garage storage. I'm obviously not a tire engineer but I see the difference with bicycle tires stored inside for decades vs tires on bikes that hang outside and only last a year.

A year or so ago I sold a vintage bike tyre still in it's original wrapping and it looked and felt as good as new. It was going on a bike to be used. IMO if they've been stored correctly they're safe for a lot longer than the manufacturer quotes.

Brent,

Yes 1-2 years may be okay if stored properly away from heat & hot-cold temp changes, & away from sunlight/UV - so sitting in a shed or on a display rack in the window doesn't qualify.

And since you usually are only safe with about 8 years from the mfg date for safe use, then you're getting a lower useful life for full price - unless they're willing to discount the NOS tires for you by a comparable amount.

I've had to replace 10 tires on my 2 running cars ($ + spare at each) in old school OE sizes a couple of years ago, which were cracking on sidewalls & in tread grooves well before the 8 years - so that is a hopeful target life - & very expensive!

IMHO - you'll be better off to order some new less than 6 mos. from mfgr date - & tell them NOT to offer you their suppliers' old stock older than that - or to get them from Tire Rack with the same proviso. You'll just need to wait a week or so.

Tire Rack also has a bunch of good tech articles at their website's tech section on this & other subjects.

IIRC, those Firestones would've been made in China, so not really the old school USA made "Fire-Rocks" of yore!

Also, that 195/65HR15 (you can use T, H or higher speed rating on your 2L) size is still available from other tire makers today, plus Vredstein & other mfgrs still make the OE 165/80HR15 tires that came on our 2L's.

Frankly when I tried a set of 195s back in the day early 1980s when my 73-2L was my DD, I didn't notice much better handling/grip - if any, but I did notice that they rubbed on my inside front wheel housings on near lock turns (well before full lock-to-lock) - which was a negative, so I went back to 165SR15 which was all that was available then in 165 (HRs are available again nowadays).

Also, 195/65R15 will give you a 3-4% odometer/speedo error IIRC (check a tire size calculator online for tire size change errors) - so you'll have "Ghost Mileage" building up on your fresh resto if you go with them. Whereas 165 has zero error, while 185/70VR or HR 15's & 175/70 or 75 VR/HR 15's have negligible 0.x% error.

You can also try Lucas Tire in Long Beach CA to get Vredstein & other vintage make tires in the 165 & many other sizes noted above, & will ship to your shop - & usually at much better prices than Coker.

https://www.lucasclassictires.com/

Look at the nailed Wheels & Tires thread in the O&H Forum for more tires info along those lines.

PS - bottom line is that yes, you probably can use them, but they may not last 8 years &/or they may rub on your fenders (some can rub rear outer fender lips as well, if they've not been "rolled").

Also, the rubber can also disintegrate from the inside unseen, & actually driving on the tires is better than unsed, because it apparently gets the rubber emulsifiers to move around in the tires & keep them pliable.

Good Luck!
Tom
///////

I'm going to be the counter point...

Bottom line is going to be cost/value. A year on the shelf is a long time for any kind of inventory, a deal is to be made.

My PartsFinder has the original Mudders from when I bought it 12 years ago, date code about 20. Hard - yes. Hairline cracking - yes. Occasional use - fine. Do I want to do another road trip on them - no.

I've got 15yo Bridgestone tires on my 914 from back when I first got it running. 5000 miles in 5 years, then jacked in a garage til today. Tires still look good but feel a bit hard. I will likely do new wheels & tires before WCR.

You want track tires as fresh as possible but for the weekender it is not critical.

Like said above, it's the UV and heat cycles that degrades tires the most.

(addl info)

Hi Tom, Thanks for the short note

All good info but I've spent a lot of time researching tires and am pretty set on these. 195/65 isn't really my first choice for size. I'd actually prefer 185/70R15 but the first consideration in choosing tires is where I live. Summer tires are absolutely out of the question unless I want to limit driving to only about 3 months of the year, mostly only during the day when pavement is warm, and not drive over my favorite mountain passes. It has to be an all-season tire and that limits the choice of tire size quite a bit. Only 195/65 tires have a good selection of all season tires. This size is only -1.6% under the diameter of a 165/80R15 (25" vs. 25.4"). It will add some ghost miles but not 3-4%. I looked at all the grand touring and performance all season tires in that size and settled on the Firehawks. They are getting good reviews for a performance all-season tire and a couple people have put them on 914s and liked them. They are also made in the USA have an "H" speed rating.

A bonus is that they are cheap. My local shop quoted me $470 for a set of 5 mounted and balanced which is a little less than the Tire Rack price. It's been a long time since I got out of a tire shop under $100/tire.

My only concern is the tire age. I stopped by the tire shop today and talked to them about it. He said the tires they have in stock might be up to 2 years old but added they are legally allowed to sell tires up to 10 years from manufacturer date. He argued what other here have said (and I agree with) that 2 years storage in their cool, dark warehouse wouldn't reduce their lifespan noticeably. I think I'll just go with it. I think that trying to get tires like this less than 6 months from manufacture date in Montana is a tall order, but I don't think 1-2 years is too much to ask.

I know that I have original miles on my car because it came with an invoice for brand new tires, and sure enough there they were with the original nubs still in place on the tread. Thing is, the invoice was dated 1988, twenty years before I bought the car. I used those tires strictly for autocross, thinking that it would help me learn how to deal with poor handling. Indeed, the handling was very poor as I skated across the pavement like I was on four bars of soap. You should be fine.

What I have learned,have stored new tyres un- mounted for many years and had no issues,however they have been away from direct sunlight and excess heat ,no problems what so ever ,age/ use by dates seem to vary a lot but it appears tyre do dry rot quicker when inflated on a wheel in direct sunlight.
Can't see the OP will have an issue in this case,the difference in diameter is within exceptable limits also.

Ozone is a gas
It gets to tires no matter where you store them
We sound old now

356 guys, 4-6 years MAX safe to use from DOT date on tire.
Sadly, they may look fine, but tires can heat up and separate at highway speeds.
It’s not safe after the 4-6 year range.

Five years from manufacture date and they’re only good for holding up the car. Not for the road.

I found some interesting reading on Tire Rack on the subject. Much like what we've seen here, it seems even the industry is kind of undecided about how proper storage contributes to tire aging, but I pulled out a few interesting factoids from reading several articles:

- current industry standard says max life of tires is 6 years in service and 10 years from build date. Based on that, it's pretty crappy that my local Firestone says they can sell tires up to 10 years old. Nice of them to sell a tire at the end of its life.

- Tire Rack says most of the tires they sell are less than a year old but they can't guarantee it. The closest they come to saying what the max age might be is "several years". They also say that many of the tires are 6-9 months old before they receive them.

- I found a couple mentions that properly stored tires age much more slowly than tires in service, but saw nothing that indicates how may years in storage equal a year in service.

- The acceptable range of maximum years in service ranges from 6-10 years but I found discussion of how high end European car manufacturers have led the charge on the 6 year recommendation and some American companies have gotten onboard. "In service" begins as soon as a tire is exposed to the elements and includes spare tires not actually used by mounted on or under a vehicle. They didn't say if a spare stored in a trunk buys some time.

Here's a few of the links I looked at. The last two were the most helpful.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tec...p;affiliate=TX3

https://blog.tirerack.com/blog/hunters-ramb...y?affiliate=TX3

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tec...p;affiliate=TX3

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tec....jsp?techid=183

I agree 100% with the above. Porsche says tires "age out" and should be replaced after 6 years regardless of treadwear. Take that with 2 grains of salt. If you have a high performance car and plan to push it to 180mph plus, heed their advise. That 6 year recommendation is based in large part on liability concerns.

Tire Rack recently sent me a set of tires dated 49/17 and 32/17 I was not impressed and made the call. Can not say I am satisfied with their response.

Look into TREAD Act of 2000. Made everyone afraid of Litigation.

Picked up the tires today. The ones in stock were May 2018 so not too bad. The one they order in was Jan 2019. I can live with that.