A600TEN for sale

Jhon I am not telling him what to do my first word was hopefully, and with regards to the tires you would be amazed how many people sell old tyres and cars with the words lots of tread left on the original tyres and they drive the cars with them. An awful lot of people do not realise that the tires performance drops and the compound goes hard and can crack and delaminates at high speed, so on a car like a 610 that’s not funny if it’s on 90s rubber.
One thing I have learned from a friend of mine who works for a very large tire company, is that tires have on average 5 years before there performance declines and the hardening of the composition.

[stephendell]

Very true. A club member took his A310 to the Nurburgring on original rubber and was in the crash barrier pretty much straight away. He bought new tyres when he got home!

Funnily enough I asked for the date of the tyres on the spare wheels for the blue 610 and they were 2015 rear and 2017 front.

I read somewhere that tyre retailers generally only sell tyres as new if they are 2 years old or less but they can be actually be considered new for up to 5 years if stored optimally. I guess you wouldn’t really want to buy them at 5 years old and then have no life left. A bit like buying new FIA harnesses just before they are about to expire!

Tyre age and its use
European regulations do not impose a coherent policy on the allowed age of tyres released for sale. Therefore, regulations may vary depending on the country. The EU is, however, extremely precise when it comes to storage time and conditions of new tyres.

The European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation (ETRTO) clearly specifies that when stored in optimal conditions, tyres may be considered new for 5 years from the date of manufacture.

A tyre sold as a new product may be safely used for at least 5-6 years. Some sources indicate that the upper limit of operational life may be even 10 years, but we recommend that 5 years after the purchase, tyres should be checked by a specialist at least once a year.

Does the age of a tyre matter?
If you have a tyre which is 5 years old from its date of manufacture (properly stored), then we can safely consider it as new. However, this period may vary depending on specific national regulations. The ageing of the rubber while in storage is influenced by various factors, including:

Light - avoid continuous direct sunlight. The best solution is little or no lighting.
Location - keep tyres free of stress in vertical positions (special racks can be purchased to prevent deformation).
Temperature - the best is constant room temperature without sudden fluctuations.
Moisture - tyres should be stored in ventilated or air-conditioned rooms

I wanted to keep my Clio on the original tyres for as long as possible as they were protyoe Michelin’s not used in production but the rears were like Ice skates and the fronts are now cracking terribly. Managed to find 6 rears and pick the two with the best dates but the fronts are unobtainable according to Michelin. Should have taken them off immediately and stored them for curiosity value.

[stephendell]

Also I recently bought 2 identical sets of Toyo Proxes from 2 different retailers. One sent was dated 2018 and the other 2017. The 2018 set was noticeably softer and sticker feeing than the 2017 set which was harder to mark with a fingernail impression.

Yes unfortunately another thing I did not realise is that they have a high % of plastic in there construction, which is probably why they have a shelf life and why the performance of the tires drops of fairly quickly.

The guy who just sold the 610 also had this one and maintained it absolutely couldn’t be driven to retain the value and he was proven right with the auction result:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cars/ ... 1-000.html

Dont get toooooo excited folks. So the chap spent all those years (20 I think I read) looking after, maintaining, storing, and not driving his super car of the day, to watch his investment rise from 21K to 91K. By my calculation that is 7.5% per year with out all the costs of insurance, maintenance and storage etc......not a great return but "ok" and better than average I guess. But like Custard, I prefer to use my cars rather than see them as an investment. Anyhow, I'm pleased for him for having looked after it so well and not falling for the temptation of driving it too much. I'm sure it is a peach inside and out.