I understand the basic concept of tire age and I know the rubber gets old and deteriorate over time. But what would you say the safe age on new unused R compound tires ?? I have been reading 4-5 years on average for race tires.

I recently found a good deal on a set of brand new Yokohama A048. The dates on them are 2010 and 2011 and I'm not sure if $500 saving worth the risk on the set or not. The owner says they have been inside all these years. He just never finished his project to use them. Any thought on this.

 

the answer to your question is to stick the tires w a durometer which will tell you how hard they are...

degradation relates to temperature (and some tires differ as to how they react to cold) and whether they were kept in plastic bags.... lots of variable so the durometer tells the tale.

howard

 

I wish he was local and I could take the tires to local race shop and measure that.

I know they were stored in side the shop but no plastic bags for sure,
They are Yokohama A048 265 and 285/18 for $900.

 

If stored inside and never been mounted they should be fine.

If your not dead set on the A048 what will you use them for? At 900 the price is ok but there are other new options worth looking into.

 

To help others who aren't familiar with a durometer: