Old tyres

[Tsundere]

Just sourced and bought two old Farmer Johns, they look barely used, maybe even unused, but of course nothing lasts forever. There's a bit of fraying down the side of one tyre and what looks like cracking on the knobbly bits. I already bought them as I need them to complete a bike and they were silly cheap, but will they be usable?

If they are 'unsafe' are there any steps I could take to reverse the ravages of time? How to care for such old rubber? I remember reading somewhere about baking old tyres to refresh them, is that really a thing?

 

[Tsundere]

I just found an old post on some now dead forum that suggested applying several layers of clear vulcanized liquid latex to the gum walls with a brush, I can see how that would at least tidy them up and even offer some light protection, anyone tried anything similar?

 

[konacarl]

I’ve gone through 2 tyres in 3 rides where they’d started to fray a little and opened right up very quickly. Ended up binning them and getting some smoke/ darts instead.

 

[2manyoranges]

Being realistic, 20-30 year old tyres are good for garage queens but not good for riding. The decomposition de-natures the rubber and there's no way to restore it. They are polymerised - long chains of molecules, and when these chains break down you can't stitch them back together. So...perhaps buy some modern tan wall Panaracers or Schwalbe and then have the retro-rubber handy for special occasions....

 

[drystonepaul]

I did 10 laps of the Mountain Mayhem course at Gatcombe Park back in 2013 on a pair of Ritchey Z-Max tyres that started out looking not too dissimilar to those ones. The tread was good, the sidewalls not so good.
But they lasted the 70 or so miles without killing me.

I was young and reckless then and quite proud that absolutely everything was period correct.

I did see it as one last great send off before setting them ablaze and floating them off in a longship.

I wouldn't dream of riding them now. I don't think they'd even be safe enough to inflate.

Actually I do still have them. Perhaps I should put them on eBay with a 'lightly used' description.

There are some very good options at the moment for new but retro looking rubber.
Save the old tyres for restorations rather than riders.

 

[2manyoranges]

DSP - the thing is that compound is SO variable. I have had one model of Ritchey tyre that is perfect after 20 years and another model which is cracked and papery. IRC seem to be timeless. Contis seem to get very papery. Michelin are all over the place too. The Tioga slicks I have up now seem much like the day they were bought, nearly 35 years ago. Specialized seem to suddenly have loads of threads hanging out after a decade or so. One tyre which went on and on was a folding Marin Lite. Clearly had a pact with the devil and was forever youthful.

 

[drystonepaul]

DSP - the thing is that compound is SO variable. I have had one model of Ritchey tyre that is perfect after 20 years and another model which is cracked and papery. IRC seem to be timeless. Contis seem to get very papery. Michelin are all over the place too. The Tioga slicks I have up now seem much like the day they were bought, nearly 35 years ago. Specialized seem to suddenly have loads of threads hanging out after a decade or so. One tyre which went on and on was a folding Marin Lite. Clearly had a pact with the devil and was forever youthful.

True, but there are many more variables in the conditions the tyres have been subjected to in the thirty or so years since they were produced.

This isn't brand specific at all and the rubber compound will have only a small bearing on how well they have survived.

While it is possible to find old tyres that are in perfect condition, it is very rare.
Cool, dark storerooms that haven't been discovered for decades do exist so they do sometimes turn up.

Most old tyres will have some level of degradation primarily through exposure to UV light.
I'm not saying they should all be condemned and never ridden again, but should be assessed accordingly.

Based on my experience of running a bike repair workshop over the past ten years, I know how many people are oblivious to the signs of tyre degradation.
I'm perhaps overly cautious out of a duty of care for my customers.

But as my previous post clearly demonstrates, it's about taking an informed personal choice, weighing up the risks and doing what you feel happy with.

 

[2manyoranges]

Ah ... well we do fortunately have a cool dark place in the workshop, and that’s where the tyres live. That’s where the perfect IRCs were (which were Karma’d to Regan) and the papery and crusty Michelins lived. They do seem to self-destruct at a different rate, even in genuinely cool and dark conditions. Yep...you are exactly right...UV is a big killer of plastics and rubber compounds - particularly black things.

 

[Tsundere]

Being realistic, 20-30 year old tyres are good for garage queens but not good for riding.

There are some very good options at the moment for new but retro looking rubber.
Save the old tyres for restorations rather than riders.

Yes, I was afraid that might be the case, of course I wouldn't dream of doing any serious riding on any tyres that looked or felt like they might not be stable, but just to see the bike - once I've giving it a thorough service and cleaned, repaired or replaced whatever may need it - dressed in its intended shoes as per the catalogue will be well worth the£15 I paid for them.

Ah ... well we do fortunately have a cool dark place in the workshop, and that’s where the tyres live. That’s where the perfect IRCs were (which were Karma’d to Regan) and the papery and crusty Michelins lived. They do seem to self-destruct at a different rate, even in genuinely cool and dark conditions. Yep...you are exactly right...UV is a big killer of plastics and rubber compounds - particularly black things.

I spoke to the seller this morning, the tyres are still attached to the wheels that the bike came with (a 1987 Specialized), the previous owner immediately upgraded the entire wheelset and so they were never used except perhaps during a quick scoot up and down his driveway. Since 1987 they were stored in a garage, the current owner bought them last year and they have been in a store room at his home for the past few months. He removed the tyres from the wheels as I was only interested in the FJC's

Of course I haven't seen them in the flesh as of yet, but it appears that they are unused and they have been stored in just about the best conditions possible, he reckons the fraying if anything looks worse than it actually is, he says the rubber still feel supple, not papery or dry and brittle as old tyres so often do, and that he'd have no problem putting them on a bike. Time will tell just how good or bad they are, but at the very least they'll make for some very nice photographs once mounted upon my new DB.

 

[pw_pw_la]

Right so back to this thread for a second...

Other than the baking trick (my understanding is this is really just to reabsorb the white chalky substance/compund that ends up on old NOS tires?) is there another trick or readily available product that can be applied to old, dry, but not cracked tires with plenty of life/tread left in them?

I'm just looking to make some old dusty tires look and feel a little more supple than they do right now, before deciding one way or the other whether to try riding a bike with them!