I’m writing you as I have read your article on tire aging called, "Simple? Naive?" in the May edition of Tire Review magazine. (Click here to review May’s column.)
You stated in the article that even though there is no science to back up the tire aging issue, that you would hope that the RMA or TIA would adopt a standard on tire aging. You went on to state that in your opinion no new tires should be sold unless they are less than six years old. You stated that this needs to be done, primarily as a public relations issue in the eyes of the public, as the public needs a standard for tire aging that our industry needs to set.
Honestly, I would expect better out of an editor of a magazine like Tire Review.
In addition to this, in recent years I can see in so many ways that we as a people give in to ideas of extremists that have little or no facts behind them, at the cost of everyone involved, and this kind of nonsense needs to stop. To give you some examples of what I’m talking about, I’ll start out with global warming. While there is no proof on the issue – except some days are hotter than others and that over a long period of time, thousands of years, our globe has been trending to warm.
In reality our globe has gone through a process of warming and cooling ever since it was created, but in the recent period these extremists are all of a sudden blaming it on man and not an act of nature as it has always been before. If this kind of extremist behavior continues, we should eliminate all carbon-based automobiles or machines. But we’re not safe here. We need to eliminate all electricity that is manufactured based on burning carbon fuels, and then go on and on until we’re back in the horse and buggy days. No, that is not safe either, as horses put off methane.
Now getting back to your column. Whenever we hear a conversation from people that don’t know what they are talking about, we should (if we know what we are talking about) inform and correct them, with real facts.
If you state that tire aging must be limited to six years from the date of manufacturing, even by having the conversation you are, in effect, alarming the public about tire aging. If six is the limit, would not four or two or one or even brand new be better?
In our business, we had a major government entity this last year limit us to one year, based on this kind of conversation. We had to look at every DOT number before we sold them anything, and since some of our bid items were items that we buy on container, and since the manufacturer may have the tires in stock for three months before they send them to us, and since it takes two months in shipment, and since we typically stock tires for up to three months, well, this was a problem some of the time.
You also stated in the article that you would not want your children driving on old tires. This again is alarmist, non-informed or non-thinking coming out of an editor of a tire periodical that, again, I would like to think would be more professional.
Every day I drive on used tires, and so do you. I also drive on tires that have been repaired as I live on a farm and have need of tire repairs regularly. I’ve never had a tire we repaired ever go bad as a result of a repair, but since they could, would you like to eliminate our ability to repair tires as well?
How old are the tires that you are driving on? Well, you make pretty good money and you have a newer vehicle, but more than likely your tires are at least a year or two old. Is that safe?
When I was younger I bought used tires on my personal vehicle as I did not have the money for new tires. I never looked at their age as back then we did not have people talking about this issue. Back then we also thought we were safe in walking home from school. I also bought blemished tires for my vehicle and now you can’t find blemished tires, as manufacturers destroy them. I never had any problems with any used or blemished tire that I bought.
Now think about the industries that you are, in effect, asking to be destroyed by your naive comments. Used tire dealerships should be gone, and so should our retread industry as they deal with used or older tires every day. This would cost this country millions of dollars, and while it is true some used or retreaded tires might fail and the failure rate is higher, many people simply can’t afford new tires. So you would, I guess, much rather have these people walking instead of driving on tires that might be unsafe?
While the vast majority of used or retreaded tires are very safe, new tires may be unsafe, too. So what should we do about new tires, at any age?
Stop the madness before we move back to the stone age. You are also, by your requests, allowing a field day for plaintiff attorneys. The madness must stop here and now.
Philip Nussbaum
President
A to Z Tire
Amarillo, TX
