Original OEM Date-Coded 1989 Goodyear 328 Tires

David, you are a gentleman...and apparently "I" am an Azz Clown....Thanks for putting up with all our kidding!

 

By the way, seems they didn't sell.

Just to put a finale to the saga, David what have you ended up doing with the tyres?

 

Rosey, as we say in Texas, it ain't over till it's over...

 

But the original eBay auction has ended, no?

 

My car as it sits today. Yes they are the original tires.
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Beautiful! John, did you buy the car new? Are you the original owner?

 

Yes, to both. Birthday present to myself, ordered March 30, 1985. I don't drive the car much these days as the 355 has that duty. I'd put new tires on it but don't want to chance damaging the wheels. That's for the next guy to worry about, should I sell it.

 

How many kilometres has the car done? So do drive it with 31 year old tyres on it? No way.

 

32k miles. Drive it? Occasionally to local C&Cs. Not at speed.

 

Cricky, the ride must be hard as a rock. Surely if you're ever in an accident the insurance company wouldn't pay up. The car isn't roadworthy.

 

I won't argue with the fact that they are harder than new high performance tires would be but they grip a lot better that a typical high mileage tire that is 6 months old. And they show no signs of rot such as side wall cracking, cracks between the treads, tread separation, and they don't leak air over long periods of time. In fact, they are in much better shape than the 7 year old Goodyear F1 tires that came on my 355 which have been changed. As for the insurance company, well the car is certainly a lot more roadworthy than the cars driving around on bald tires, or winter tires all summer. Not to mention they would have to prove that any accident was the result of the tires. Hard to do if someone broadside you. And frankly, I don't care. It's my car, my risk and I choose to preserve the car as original. There simply aren't any laws written about tire age

Some states have tire laws but I have been unable t find ant that deal with other than things like tread depth, bulges, improper repairs, chord showing, mismatched sizes, labeled not for road use. If the issue were bad it is made out to be you can be sure the federal government would create laws against it. You know they are out to make you safe at all cost, like it or not.

 

Thanks for the information and DRIVE SAFE !! Cheers

 

It appears as though they were overinflated.

 

I recently changed my tyres which were 15 years old.

They looked absolutely fine but the guy in the tyre place called me over to have a look while he was removing them. The machine which presses down on the sidewall so the fitter can get the lever under the rim was simply punching right through the sidewall instead of flexing it downwards. Eventually the tyres came off in bits.

 

The ONLY thing(s) holding you/the car to mother Earth are the tires. Of ALL the components on a car, they should always be in top condition: proper size for the rim, properly inflated, undamaged, and "fresh". One might say "hey, it's my car, my risk, there are no laws" and so on, but the point is you're not the only one on the road. There is my daughter, for instance. And my girlfriend. So are yours.

As an amateur racing car driver I have a lot of experience with all kind of tires, in all kind of circumstances. Racers don't call them "the black gold" for nothing. But also, or specificly on the public road, tires are extremely important. There is a major difference in old and fresh tires regarding handling, grip, stopping distances. On the track, the competitors know what they are doing, they of course all have their racing licence and the basic experience needed to get it. They know what (not) to do when things go wrong. Most drivers on the public road don't. They (have to, more or less) "rely" on things NOT going wrong. Things can go horribly wrong even with low speed, depending on the circumstances.

There is NO excuse for driving on old tires. There just isn't.

 

Indeed.

Tyres and timing belts are made of the same stuff. I would bet people driving on tyres which are so old they could fail and cause injury/death are religiously changing their timing belts every 4 years, when all that can happen if those fail is a large cost.

 

Well said !! I played it down but I was horrified to hear that someone was driving on a public road with 30 year old tyres.
I am all for originality and so forth but it's just plain dangerous to all concerned to be driving on tyres that old.
Irresponsible even.

 

Imagine you discovered that the next passenger jet you boarded has 30 year old tyres on it. How confident in it's take off and landing would you be then?

 

No excuses. There is also no excuse for people driving around on bald tires or underinflated tires. But they do. And they are a lot more dangerous: a 4k pound SUV with the driver texting away, driving at 65 mph on tires with 15 psi in them. I'm not stupid. If I had any intent to drive the car regularly or at speed, I would change them. I'm not out there playing Mario Andretti. I understand the risk. But driving 10 miles at 35 mph to a C&C 2 or 3 time a year, I'm not going to worry to much. Old as stone, they are not going to catastrophically fail at that speed resulting is a loss of control. Or let me put it another way. If you can't control a car if a tire fails at 35 mph you shouldn't be on the road in the first place.

But take the discussion to the next level. Tires are 31 years old. Consider it a long term test. By current thinking these tire should have disintegrated many years ago. Why haven't they? Why? Ask yourself what is going on with tire manufactures today because, as I said, the 7 year old Goodyear F1 GS-D3 tires on my 355 were definitely showing visual signs of deterioration and the tire machine punched through the side wall of one when I replaced them. (Frankly that was more likely the fault of the guy operating the tire machine that the tire.) Interesting because even Tire Rack say tire life is 10 years and the local Firestone dealers will sell tires 5 years past the date code as new.

Oh, and for the 4 year timing belt fans out there, 1 timing belt change in 31 years. You do the math. Current belts are 6 years old. No consideration of changing them anytime soon. I know, I'm a total AH who just happens to own one of the best, unrestored, driven 85 308 GTB QVs out there.

 

So basically you are going to keep driving until they do fail?

 

No. I never said that. They are nearing the wear limit and will have to be replaced or I will have to put the car up if I want to preserve originality. But for argument, consider which tire in the picture is in better condition form the point of view of a visual inspection. The one on the left is 6 years old. According to tire rack this tire has 4 more years of useful life. I don't agree and it is to be replaced. The one of the right is my 308. I'd really like to know what's going on in the tire industry that a 31 year old tire has held up better than one 6 year old. Particular when you consider that the tire on the left is supposed to be a long life, high mileage tire.

I'd also like to ask how many here have actually experience a tire failure at highway speeds? I've been driving for 53 years and as an inexperienced teen driver I experience this twice. Back then tube tires were still common and even a puncture would result blowout. I experienced one in my 49 Ford and one in a 63 Corvair. Neither car could be considered a good handling car. Yet, in each case there was no real drama involved. A slight wiggle and thump, thump, thump to an easily controlled stop. As a passage, where I can not claim any driving prowess on my part, and in a van, again at highway speeds a tire blew out apparently due to a defect in the side wall. Again, it wasn't that dramatic and the van was safely brought to a stop, limped off the expressway, and a new tire fitted. It's just not like a NASCAR car being driven at 10.5/10 in a corner and having a right rear go and the car spins out of control.

I'm not advocating that there is no need to worry about tire age. I am simply saying the tires on my 308 are 31 years old, they are visually not deteriorating, I am aware of the risks and I drive the car accordingly.

I guess next you'll be telling me I need to replace the 16 year old Sears Die Hard battery in the car because it's going to fail momentarily.
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Good strategy. I think you'll have the last laugh too. Wish I could use them but not correct for my 1985 Euro QV. Windshield sticker says Pirelli.

 

Depends on the market where your car was sold....
French QVs would have had Michelin TRX, except if you asked for something else explicitly before delivery.
Then the first serie of french 328s (Sept 1985 to April 1988) were indeed delivered with Goodyears, but the second serie, from April 1988 onwards, with a "not very common" Michelin, the MXX.
My 1989 328 GTB came to me in September 2008, when she was 19 years old, still with her original MXXs; these were the first thing I replaced.

Rgds