Old rubber

Post Fri Jul 31, 2009 9:17 am

Hi,

I've been offered some wheels with cut slicks on, but they look like they have been sitting round for some time.. Is it OK to use old rubber or will they have gone off? I know road tyres have a date code staped on the side, is this the same for cut slicks?

They are Dunlop formula R and look like this:

Also are 225 width tyres OK for the rear of a touring?

Cheers

Post Sat Aug 01, 2009 5:22 pm

these are not cut slicks, they are road legal. Check for the 4 digit DOT number.
the first two digits are the WEEK of production, the last two are the year.
i.e. 3508 --> 35th week of 2008
it doesn't matter if they are a few years old if they have been stored properly (cold and dark)
as long they don't show a blue'ish, shiny layer of on the threaded section they are fine.
Hard to tell if they are off or not, if they aren't too dear I would give it a try. You can always use some tyre softener before a track day. What sizes are they??

Post Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:05 pm

I'd agree with Uwe, its overheating and temperature cycles that kill tyres.

They dont look particularly blue in the picture, and as long as they have'nt been inadvertantly heat cycled in storage then they should be fine... also a bonus if they have been taken off the car to be stored.

I didnt know that about the 4 digit DOT number either..... 'everyday is a schoolday'....

Post Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:14 pm

PS my "brand new" Dunlops I bought from Dunlop Motorsport showed up with a 3 year old production date!!! But they worked fine as promised from the Dunlop sales rep.
They are now wrapped up in cling film for storage till next year.......

Post Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:32 pm

Apparently they are 205-15 front and 225-15 rear on I'm assuming 7J rims, plus a spare of each as two have a flat spot, almost to the canvass...

He wants more than I want to spend tbh, including swaping them over and a tank of fuel to collect.

Post Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:08 am

Screw him and buy some new rubber. Do you really want to spend more than you should on some old, flat-spotted tyres?

For a track day I recommend my current set-up, decent 205/50 R15 on the front and rubbish 185/50 R15 on the back. Forget lap times and just have some fun with it. And remember to fold your back seats down, I swear mine's faster than with them up. Lowering CoG yeah?

Post Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:35 am

UweM3 wrote:PS my "brand new" Dunlops I bought from Dunlop Motorsport showed up with a 3 year old production date!!! But they worked fine as promised from the Dunlop sales rep.
They are now wrapped up in cling film for storage till next year.......

if you're being anal about looking after your tyres (no offence intended

) it may be worth considering that the cling film could well deposit plasticiser on the tyres. not sure if this would have an effect on them though... perhaps a layer of paper/tissue/cloth in between?
or is this getting silly?!!!!

Post Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:52 am

I've offered as much as I want to spend, we'll just have to see.

I'll be doing a session or two at Castle Combe in Sept so can feedback any thoughts if anyone's interested.

Thanks for your help

Post Sun Aug 02, 2009 12:22 pm

On the action day?

Post Sun Aug 02, 2009 1:10 pm

Yeah, not sure if there's a meet organised, I'll be on the e36coupe stand.

You going too then?

Post Wed Aug 12, 2009 2:30 pm

gareth wrote:
UweM3 wrote:PS my "brand new" Dunlops I bought from Dunlop Motorsport showed up with a 3 year old production date!!! But they worked fine as promised from the Dunlop sales rep.
They are now wrapped up in cling film for storage till next year.......
if you're being anal about looking after your tyres (no offence intended ) it may be worth considering that the cling film could well deposit plasticiser on the tyres. not sure if this would have an effect on them though... perhaps a layer of paper/tissue/cloth in between?
or is this getting silly?!!!!

Ideally you need the black cling film stuff they use for (real) wooden furniture as it's UV proof.