I recently bought a set of Toyo Proxes A20 off of Facebook marketplace for $200 they still had the yellow and blue line on them so they were never used, unfortunately, I never checked the date they were made which was in 2012. Would it be okay or safe to use on the road? It's a 215-45/17. Am I out $200? Thanks
This is why you never buy important auto parts on Ebay, Amazon or Facebook. The thrill of the discount will be long forgotten while you're waiting for AAA to show up.
I would not use it. Better to be safe than sorry.
I would be very suspicious of those, especially if you don't know how they were stored.
When I was younger and stupider, and didn't pay attention to such things, I had the experience of an old tire that looked good on the outside almost literally exploding from internal rot while driving at low speed across an intersection. Under those circumstances it was just inconvenient. Under other circumstances it could have been deadly, to myself and others. Lesson learned.
I wouldn't take the chance of using those. Your life, as well as the lives and property of others, are worth more than $200.
The shame of it is for about another $100 you could have gotten brand-new Douglas (Goodyear) tires from Wal-Mart, which are perfectly good budget tires.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Douglas-Performance-215-45R17-87V-Tire/46633823
When were your ever younger and stupider? @chucktobias
At this late stage it's hard to believe I was ever young! It was a different world. For one thing, the old bias-ply tires would wear out in 10K-20K miles so usually they didn't last long enough to worry about dry rot.
No.
I will say ten years is the maximum shelf life of a tire if stored in climate controlled conditions. The conventional wisdom is six to seven years.
Probably not.
I'd check them for dry-rot and and wouldn't use them on the highway until I'm FULLY certain they're alright.
I had 7 year old tires on my car when I got them and it was plastic and drove terribly although I couldn't find any sign of what's wrong with them (no date written or anything). Only figured out their age when I realized that's the OEM ford ones (a brand that's not available where I live)
Tire explosions are dangerous and can cause severe bodily harm to you or others! (not to speak of properly damage or legal liability)
found this experiment of Google images:
buying mystery auto parts online...
maybe you'll make some new friends
This is just me but if I mounted them up & they had no rot, cracking, bulges, damage...odd looking dry patches, why not? Take it slow, don't get your hopes up. The only time I absolutely wouldn't is if it was for a bike.
Prior to coker making them, alot of the older styles like redlines & obsolete sizes had to come from somewhere, that was always NOS.
I've used much, much older no name stuff when having trouble getting the size I need but the part of my brain that should say "DON'T" went on vacation long ago.
