|
Actually if/when tires are stored in proper environment they don't age much. I recall one vid with test of tires of different manufacture years, and degradation wasn't that big of as some expected. IIRC 3 years "in warehouse" were "worth" less then 5-10% of "grip degradation", so sometimes one can use to get good deal on "old tires". It's when you mount on car, pump it up, and it per every wheel rotation flexes, and gets subjected to sunlight/precipitation/change temps/heatcycles, when tire rubber chemical compound's "clock starts ticking". Still, my 2 cents, that i wouldn't buy older then 3 years tire by manufacturing date, and i wouldn't use set of tires on car for more then 3 years. As tires are single most important thing on any car, i prefer for their state to be within 70-80% grip of new tire, not 30-40%, and thread wear extent is just part of picture affecting tire grip (though worth noting, that most tires, once wear is past 30%, perform noticeably worse. Legally required minimum thread depth is often past what i consider acceptable for me. Luckily, when i started participating in track days, no summer tires lasted me more then season, so no need to consider their age, LOL).
|