[s-cars] Anyone looking to get the jump on winter tires cheap

[mlp5]

FWIW, at the Rocky Mtn Audi Club winter driving school event this last
February, the Club  had a gentleman with a rather impressive CV (was one
of the engineers who worked for Audi on debunking the original
un-intended acceleration case and gets flown to Finland to test /
compare new winter tires etc.)  speak.  He currently runs a tire
wholesale/retail distributorship and spoke to the Audi Club's
Bridgestone Winter Driving Event participants on the relative merits of
various winter tires etc.  

One point I thought he made rather effectively had to do with the "age"
& aging of winter tires.  While I don't recall him offering any hard &
fast rule, he did make a point of the winter compound aging while in
storage ~ as they become older, tires particularly those that depend on
special compounds etc. may not retain all of the flexibility or other
characteristics that made them a "good" tire when new.  The
deterioration is affected by where and how the tire is stored (i.e.,
indoor/outdoor, large temperature extremes and/or fluctuations, &
perhaps most significantly, the presence of ozone.)

You can store winter tires for a season or two or more, but .... trying
to penny pinch too many years, or too much tread life out of a set can
be seriously fooling yourself if you think the tires are going to be
there for you in really bad weather.

I guess tires may a little like that $1,000+ racing helmet you buy.
It's no longer certified "good to go" when the padding sticker expires
in 5 years or so.  Anyone been taking @$200 per year depreciation off
their helmet supply?

HTH
mike

>-----Original Message-----
>From: s-car On Behalf Of Richard Tanimura

>And make sure they are not old stock. I had some that delaminated.
>
>Rich