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Having only recently discovered there's a date code stamped on every tyre, I was a bit concerned to find that my Potenza RE-01 were made in 2000 All things considered they've held up well, and I've not had any dramas with them during my two years of use, although I should add that it's not a daily driver and I avoid going out on wet roads.

Here's a closeup of the tread - notice the cracks:



I'm guessing they have been the only tyres ever fitted to my AME Tracer TSSC rims, which were manufactured in 2002:



Anyway, I'm replacing them tomorrow with RE-003's.

should be real easy to loose traction......dump it at 5K......& go!!!!!
not on public roads of course.

StanTheMan wrote:should be real easy to loose traction......dump it at 5K......& go!!!!!
not on public roads of course.

No, of course I would never do such a thing

Crikey, the tread certainly has that shiney hard look that would be diabolical in the wet.

93_Clubman wrote:Crikey, the tread certainly has that shiney hard look that would be diabolical in the wet.

Yeah, actually I shudder a bit thinking back to my trip back from Sydney after buying it there two years ago. The weather was great until I was 10K from home, at which point the heavens opened and I just drove on regardless, totally ignorant of what I was riding on - and a novice MX5 driver at that...

They'd be as hard as rocks, wouldn't they?

Vat wrote:They'd be as hard as rocks, wouldn't they?

That, my friend, is the million dollar question
I've been blaming my Bilstein coilovers for the harsh ride, but new tyres may well make me change my tune. I'll post the (subjective) results in a day or two.

Harsh ride is mostly the Bilsteins - my NA8 still has them - good on freeways, but harsh on poor road surfaces. Some background follows on Mazda's use of them in MX5 NA: viewtopic.php?f=76&t=30041

LiteIsRite wrote:

Vat wrote:They'd be as hard as rocks, wouldn't they?

That, my friend, is the million dollar question
I've been blaming my Bilstein coilovers for the harsh ride, but new tyres may well make me change my tune. I'll post the (subjective) results in a day or two.

The rubber will have hardened, but it would add very little to the ride.
When tyres go old and hard the sidewalls tend to still have some give (if they didn't they'd jsut crack and blow a tyre)
it's mostly the tread area that you'll notice it, in having stuff all grip.

I've had tyres like that and they do the job, but not much more. They'd be about on par performance wise with a set of cheap chinese retreads.

They will however last for AGES before the tread wears down, so they've got that going for them at least.

I was chatting with one of our Foundation Members of the MX-5 Club of NSW who told me that his MX-5 was knocked back for rego a few years ago. It's a garage queen that almost never gets dríven and still had the original tyres ... from 1989!!! The rubber was hard as a rock but wet weather wasn't a problem ... because the car has NEVER been dríven in the rain!!!

I have the RE003s on mine and I think they're a relatively soft riding tyre. Be interested to see the difference.

I'm surprized these have passed a RWC for the last 5 years.

old tyres will definitely blow side walls. I bought a car and it was suggested by someone I could drive it home from the country. I declined for a few reasons. When I did get it home I did a check and found the tyres were 27 years old!

Apparently and rightfully rwc checkers in Vic can knock a tyre back based on age / cracks.PS in Vic rwc only apply when a car is sold.

project.r.racing wrote:I'm surprized these have passed a RWC for the last 5 years.

Mr Morlock wrote:Apparently and rightfully rwc checkers in Vic can knock a tyre back based on age / cracks.PS in Vic rwc only apply when a car is sold.

I've looked into the NSW legislation on this a little, specifically Clause 52 of Schedule 2 of the Vehicle Registration Regulation 2007 (http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/viewtop/inforce/subordleg+522+2007+cd+0+N/?dq=Regulations%20under%20Road%20Transport%20(Vehicle%20Registration)%20Act%201997%20No%20119)
I don't see anything related to age there, only (under 'Tyres - defects') the sentence "A tyre fitted to a vehicle must be free of any apparent defect that could make the vehicle unsafe." So I guess pass/fail depends on what sort of day the inspection station staff are having.

However, the local tyre dealer who initially looked at mine did say that they may not sell a tyre that is more than 5 years old.

Vat wrote:I have the RE003s on mine and I think they're a relatively soft riding tyre. Be interested to see the difference.

Me too. I got the new rubber ready to go on the car this afternoon (pic below), but got caught up fixing a buzz in my exhaust while the car was on stands, so first drive is tomorrow (weather permitting).

Angle of the pic I think, but that new Potenza, which also looks to be a 195/50x15, looks very different on the rim from the old one, & might help with some cushioning.