[WasavaTyres]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Obviously because rubber ages with time! Also if you consider that a tyre is good for 6 years after manufacture, then if you buy it say 1.5 years after manufacture, then in effect you have a tyre which is good for only about 4.5 years! Also, there may be other factors... like unused tyres, like in a shop rack may deteriorate faster. Not too sure about this though. So better to be safe and not pick up anything beyond 6 months old, max.

And rubber mounted on rims on your car will not deteriorate with time ?? Besides Tyres on a shop rack are safe from the tough and grind of stones/oil spills/coal tar/sunlight/heat and other things they are subject to on the road. I'm not trying to pick on your words here Raccoon but please give logical reasoning to your claims / apprehensions. Just 'coz you 'feel' something does not mean it happens that way. A lot of people visit forums and threads such as ours to gain knowledge or enlighten themselves on things they are not in the know of. And a written word,written by anyone for that matter does carry some weight.

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by WasavaTyres

And rubber mounted on rims on your car will not deteriorate with time ?? Besides Tyres on a shop rack are safe from the tough and grind of stones/oil spills/coal tar/sunlight/heat and other things they are subject to on the road. I'm not trying to pick on your words here Raccoon but please give logical reasoning to your claims / apprehensions. Just 'coz you 'feel' something does not mean it happens that way. A lot of people visit forums and threads such as ours to gain knowledge or enlighten themselves on things they are not in the know of. And a written word,written by anyone for that matter does carry some weight.

Hmm, so @WasavaTyres, as per you, it should be ok to buy the tires manufactured in Sep 06 and May 07?

The dealer whom I enquired with was saying the same thing what you just wrote. He said that environment in a shop is better to store tires, and hence ok to buy more than 6 months old tires from a shop.

[lancer123]

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

Hmm, so @WasavaTyres, as per you, it should be ok to buy the tires manufactured in Sep 06 and May 07?

The dealer whom I enquired with was saying the same thing what you just wrote. He said that environment in a shop is better to store tires, and hence ok to buy more than 6 months old tires from a shop.

Nishant..the simple thing is why u are spending on 1-2 yrs old tyres when u can get fresh tyres at the same price. are u getting any discount on the old tyres from the dealer ?

[WasavaTyres]

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

it should be ok to buy the tires manufactured in Sep 06 and May 07?

All I'm saying is the manufacturer gives a warranty against manufacturing defects for a period of 5 years from the date of manufacture. So a year old tyre would not harm your chances of having a safe or comfortable ride. As for warranty, any manufacturing defect would not wait for 4 odd years to show up,you'll notice it maybe 6 months from the time of fitment or alternatively after some frequent use. As lancer has suggested,you may not be able to push for a cash discount on those tyres but maybe you can leverage it to get your balancing+alignment+nitrogen thrown in for free

[sukiwa]

@ nishantgandhi:
Let's try to interpret remarks by dealer.

The dealer is saying that both GPS 2 and GT 3 are slow moving hence out of stock for this spec.

If this tyre model/size is slow moving, why do you want to go for a brand/model not opted for by many.I can't believe dealer's statement that these tyres are new. No business minded person would keep inventory of slow moving items for years.

Buying Old Tyres: Decide whether you want to buy new tyres or old(used) tyres. Are you getting discount on these more than year old tyres?

What to Buy: If you satisfied with current tyre profile, then just switch to some other tyre brand (I would prefer Bridgestone or Michelin).

Goodyear GPS2: I am using these for last two years and not satisfied with the way it has aged. Tyres look as if they have run for more than 30,000 Kms whereas it has done only 17500 Kms so far. Would be changing tyres before next monsoon.

Second query: Rubber can crack as tyres age and can show up as small cracks on sidewalls.

[amitk26]

@Wasava Tyre I do not know if you are a tyre dealer yourself or not but your advice is purely from tyre dealer's perspective, as a consumer why should Nishant settle for old stock with out any corrsponding discount. Freebies such as alignment + balancing are thrown in by dealers even with new tyres and cost almost nothing to them. As far as nitorgen filling is concerned 78% is already available free of cost and you can search other threads on how useful it is.

Life of tyre is considered to be 6 years because vulcanized rubber starts decaying after it even if it is not used and stored on a dust free shelf, So 1.5 years of useful life is already gone , corresponding cash discount should be atleast = (cost of tyre) / 6 X 1.5 + freebies usually available with new tyre.

Originally Posted by WasavaTyres

All I'm saying is the manufacturer gives a warranty against manufacturing defects for a period of 5 years from the date of manufacture. So a year old tyre would not harm your chances of having a safe or comfortable ride. As for warranty, any manufacturing defect would not wait for 4 odd years to show up,you'll notice it maybe 6 months from the time of fitment or alternatively after some frequent use. As lancer has suggested,you may not be able to push for a cash discount on those tyres but maybe you can leverage it to get your balancing+alignment+nitrogen thrown in for free

[nitrous]

While you have a point,Amit.
A 3-5 year warranty is the only ticket for manufacturers/retailers to sell 1+year old tyres.
Except for a few of us BHPians, even a regular performance tyre buyer wouldn't know about identifying manufacturing week of a tyre.
PLUS,Michelin have humidity controlled warehouses, i heard. If this is true, then they shouldn't age as much as they used to.
@wasava: Is this true?

While usually,I demand for less than 6 month old tyre.
With the substantial increase in tyre prices, I don't mind getting older tyres for really old prices.

[WasavaTyres]

Nitrous I have no inkling about Michelin's mother godown (i.e. The primary godown) but everywhere else I've seen tyres being held in warehouses with no special arrangements to control the climate. In summers I've seen godown keepers put up large fans the kind you see at weddings to circulate the air a bit to disperse that distinct smell of new tyres,as esp here up north the temperatures touch 42-45 degrees in the peak of season.

Originally Posted by amitk26

As far as nitorgen filling is concerned 78% is already available free of cost and you can search other threads on how useful it is.
Life of tyre is considered to be 6 years because vulcanized rubber starts decaying after it even if it is not used and stored on a dust free shelf, So 1.5 years of useful life is already gone.

I've not been through any threads on it but technically speaking the loss of tire pressure in tyres inflated with pure nitrogen is slower 'coz of the nitrogen molecule being larger in size compared to that of simple air,hence unable to penetrate through the inner lining of the tires at a comparatively faster rate vis a vis plain air. So the 72% you get for free might remain but your tyre would be underinflated by 28% On a lighter note all I meant to suggest was you can use the older dates as leverage to bargain with the dealer further. How many of us ride on 4.5 year old tyres ?? BTW If you enjoy driving and do pamper your car, by the end of 3-4 years you would need a tyre change in any case.

[nishantgandhi]

I got a PM from a member to update this thread, so here goes.

After reading up on the benefits of having tubeless tires, I have decided to change all 5 tires to tubeless (going to get 175/70-13 now).

Hence, the purpose of the thread is redundant now.

My only remaining query is - What difference does having alloy wheels make to the performance of the car/tires vis-a-vis stock steel rims?

Assuming I go to a reputed tire shop, get the steel rims straightened and treated for rust (if need be), will they serve their duty fine?

A fellow member told me that on a scale of 1-10, steel rims serve the purpose at 7/10, whilst alloys score 10/10.

The current recession and liquidity crunch () is not allowing me to go the whole way. I am thinking of going for just the tubeless as of now. Maybe in Jan, on my car's birthday, I will gift her alloy wheels.

But at the same time, I do not want to compromise majorly on the safety aspect as well. So please advise on this.

[nitrous]

How old are your steel rims?
Are they well painted from the factory?
Have you thoroughly checked for rusting on the flange?

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by nitrous

How old are your steel rims?
Are they well painted from the factory?
Have you thoroughly checked for rusting on the flange?

4 years old.

Well painted - umm, not sure what that means. They are as well painted as any other stock rims on a Getz. What I can see is that they have not
lost any paint all this while.

No rust on the outside, yet to check the insides (I mean that would be possible only after removing the tires from the rims, which I have not done yet).

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

4 years old.

Well painted - umm, not sure what that means. They are as well painted as any other stock rims on a Getz. What I can see is that they have not
lost any paint all this while.

No rust on the outside, yet to check the insides (I mean that would be possible only after removing the tires from the rims, which I have not done yet).

If they are not damaged or rusted steel rims are just fine there is no difference from pont of view of fitting tubeless on steel vs alloy , Advantage of alloy is that it is lighter and looks better ( regardless or tubeless or tubed ) disadvantages of fitting alloy can be many if alloy is not perfect match in terms of PCD , Hub dia , Hub centred vs lug centred etc. apart from damage to your pocket.
search for all the gyan on above terms in other threads

[nishantgandhi]

Just to update the thread. I went for 175/70-13 Michelin XM1+ tubeless on the stock steel rims. It has been over 1 month now and the running is great (touchwood!). Will contemplate on buying alloys sometime in future if feel like and if budget permits.

Mods may please close the thread as it has served its purpose.