It all started years ago with the make believe tire blow out ordeal Ford endured. The government, Firestone, Ford and others tested it and shitting driving was likely the only cause of cars rolling over during a blow out.
About that time they started talking about having expiration dates on tires because of dry rotting and the hardening of the rubber due to heating and cooling.
Nothing ever came of it but some shops used it as justification for ripping people off. This isn't the first time I had heard of it.
Yes, there is a basis in truth to the "six year rule." After the Ford/Firestone incidents Congress commissioned the NHTSA (National Hwy Traffic Safety Administration) to study tire safety. It was discovered that most tire-caused crashes involve tires six years or more old. Congress did begin requiring manufacturing date stamps, however no definitive method has been devised to determine how long a tire will safely last - there are too many variables (sun, cold, ozone, inflation, etc). There also is the issue of unnecessarily scrapping vast numbers of still-servicable tires; used tires represent one of our largest environmental problems and scrapping them prematurely would only compound that.
When tire dealers arbitrarily refuse to work on tires beyond six years,
it puts a huge burden on the classic car hobby since most classic cars (like Doug's Mustang) don't get driven enough to wear out tires in the six year time frame. It is one thing however when tire dealers make it a store policy - it's their store and perhaps they want to avoid the liability;
it is quite another when they deceive customers by telling them that it is the law that they can't service six year old tires as the retailers in my area have done.
