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Spare tire advise needed


Gaurav

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Which spare tire one should keep?

1) 50% treadlife with 3 years of age.

2) 100% treadlife with 6 years of age.

I have 1 geolander G012 in unused condition as my spare tire since 2017. Now while getting new tires, should I replace unused G012 with half life G015 or keep G012 even if its 6 years old?

 

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10 minutes ago, Gaurav said:

Which spare tire one should keep?

1) 50% treadlife with 3 years of age.

2) 100% treadlife with 6 years of age.

I have 1 geolander G012 in unused condition as my spare tire since 2017. Now while getting new tires, should I replace unused G012 with half life G015 or keep G012 even if its 6 years old?

 

I would vote for the tyre that has had the least amount of UV or heat exposure. If the 2017 one has seen little to no sun, i would expect the rubber compound integrity to be better.

Some telltale signs of ageing could be colour fade and small micro-cracks in the rubber. 

 

What is rubber deterioration?
Most elastomers undergo rubber degradation over time and the most common rubber deterioration causes are exposure to light, oxygen (ozone) and heat. The molecular changes brought about by these environmental conditions can significantly impact the mechanical properties and therefore service life of rubber products like seals and O-rings.

Oxidative and thermal ageing of rubber are accelerated by stress and reactive gases, like ozone, resulting in cracking, charring and colour fading. However, the addition of antioxidants, UV stabilisers and antiozonates can slow or prevent these types of issues.

Oxidative rubber degradation can cause hardening or softening, depending on the structure of the elastomer. Hardening is more common because free radicals produced due to heat, oxygen and light combine to form new crosslinks, which reduces the flexibility of the rubber.

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7 minutes ago, Frederic said:

I would vote for the tyre that has had the least amount of UV exposure. If the 2017 one has seen little to no sun, i would expect the rubber compound integrity to be better.

Yes my spare is always covered with plastic tire cover

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Typical age of rubber until it starts degrading is about 5-7 years depending on how well it is stored.. spares kept outside the car.. underneath the chassis or hung on the boot door tends to degrade faster even if they are protected from direct sunlight (UV). They may seem good from an outside view but tend to be degraded inside.. i once used a spare wheel after about 5 years and in about 500 kms the cracks started to appear on the shoulder 

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Just now, Gaurav said:

Yes my spare is always covered with plastic tire cover

So the 50% used one has been one of the main 4 tyres right ?

In that case i believe the 100% 6 year old tyre would still be better.

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18 minutes ago, Frederic said:

So the 50% used one has been one of the main 4 tyres right ?

Yes

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Tire shop said the same thing, if spare is always covered and never used, years doesnt matter that much as it's the usage that depletes the rubber life and quality.

So keeping G012 back where it was.

Thanks guys.

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Vulcanized rubber to get deteriorated takes a lot of time. I have read all the comments here. The reason for the tire to get cracked after years is due to ply separation. Rubber compound when masticated with chemicals to become a tire compound has oil also added to it. After years the oil starts to evaporate making the tire more brittle. Also when the tire is vulcanized in the tire mould the outer parts of the tire get more heat and vulcanizes more. The inner parts of the tire where the ply's are arranged are not vulcanized fully as heat reaches there less. So a tire which has aged is more likely to fail as the bond between the ply's gets weaker after years. Another reason is the addition of synthetic rubber in tires. Synthetic rubber is added to the compound to give it more abrasion resistance. But if u have stock of old synthetic rubber, you see that the tensile strength of the rubber has deteriorated a lot and if u pull it will just tear off. I can say this with 100% confidence as I had a rubber mastication unit which was handed over to me through generations.  

@gaurav I would keep the 50% tread life tire and throw the 6 year old tire in the garbage. 

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57 minutes ago, Thomas Varghese said:

@gaurav I would keep the 50% tread life tire and throw the 6 year old tire in the garbage. 

Thanks Thomas for your valuable input, I actually threw half-life 4 tires in the garbage just now. lol.

Btw, I have been using my spare tire for 2 weeks and didn't notice any issues on-road and off-road, but will change to a newer one soon.

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