Any issues with running old surplus 37’s

[Warhammer1]

Humvee Braintrust, I am looking for advice on something that seems related to this thread, on my 37" Goodyear Wrangler M/T military tires. With supplemental info and pics below, could I keep on driving on them given my driving habits or should I immediately get them swapped out before I kill myself (or others)? I don't know if this is a thread hijack, mods let me know and I'll post as a new topic, thank you all in advance. I am sitting and ready for the unvarnished truth which may hurt....

- Driving Habits. I put around 10mi or so a month just to maintain the Humvee circulatory system. No highway driving just local on-road only, never over 45 mph.
- Tire Pressure. I always maintained 20 psi because I never knew any better. After reading up on SS forums I am now kicking myself and will start maintaining 30 or so psi.
- Cracks in Sidewalls. My right front (mfg'd 4th week of 200 and left rear tires (46th week of 2005) show these gouges in pics below. My fronts have about 40% tread and rears are 70% and all have the original run flats in them.

 

[Autonomy_Lost]

I dont think anyone on here will tell you its safe to drive on 20 year old tires with cracks in the sidewall. At least, I would hope not.

 

[TOBASH]

Hummer H1 has driven his rig with zero issues for over 300,000 miles on former military tires. He swears by them.

Guy drives icy Winter conditions and drives to Death Valley in the Summer at 129 degrees. Same tires.

PM him for his perspective.

 

[Warhammer1]

I dont think anyone on here will tell you its safe to drive on 20 year old tires with cracks in the sidewall. At least, I would hope not.

Painful truth is why I frequent this establishment. I didn't want to hear it but not foolish enough to ignore good advice. I'm surfing for tires now

 

[Warhammer1]

Hummer H1 has driven his rig with zero issues for over 300,000 miles on former military tires. He swears by them.

Guy drives icy Winter conditions and drives to Death Valley in the Summer at 129 degrees. Same tires.

PM him for his perspective.

I will and thanks again TOBASH, thanks for taking time to advise

 

[Autonomy_Lost]

For what its worth, I'm not saying to avoid surplus tires, but you gotta draw the line somewhere when they get a certain age and start to crack.

There are plenty of 2015 and newer tires out there still in good shape (depending on how they were stored).

 

[Coug]

If you aren't going to replace them right away, at least put the ones with the cracking on the rear of the truck as they are most likely to have a failure and the rear is the safest place to have a tire failure while driving down the road.

I have no problems running older tires if they are in good shape, but once there is obvious signs like these, then time to replace.

 

[Mogman]

Humvee Braintrust, I am looking for advice on something that seems related to this thread, on my 37" Goodyear Wrangler M/T military tires. With supplemental info and pics below, could I keep on driving on them given my driving habits or should I immediately get them swapped out before I kill myself (or others)? I don't know if this is a thread hijack, mods let me know and I'll post as a new topic, thank you all in advance. I am sitting and ready for the unvarnished truth which may hurt....

- Driving Habits. I put around 10mi or so a month just to maintain the Humvee circulatory system. No highway driving just local on-road only, never over 45 mph.
- Tire Pressure. I always maintained 20 psi because I never knew any better. After reading up on SS forums I am now kicking myself and will start maintaining 30 or so psi.
- Cracks in Sidewalls. My right front (mfg'd 4th week of 200 and left rear tires (46th week of 2005) show these gouges in pics below. My fronts have about 40% tread and rears are 70% and all have the original run flats in them.
View attachment 901848

View attachment 901849

If you were closer I would give you a couple tires better than that, the RF has a pattern that looks like it sat flat for a while, ideal recipe for a failure.
SO SO tires are pretty cheap, that one does not even meet that spec.

 

[Warhammer1]

If you aren't going to replace them right away, at least put the ones with the cracking on the rear of the truck as they are most likely to have a failure and the rear is the safest place to have a tire failure while driving down the road.

I have no problems running older tires if they are in good shape, but once there is obvious signs like these, then time to replace.

Thanks Coug for the good advice. I was going to drag my feet but not now, I'm actively looking for replacements.

 

[Warhammer1]

If you were closer I would give you a couple tires better than that, the RF has a pattern that looks like it sat flat for a while, ideal recipe for a failure.
SO SO tires are pretty cheap, that one does not even meet that spec.

Mogman you are correct, sometimes my poor ride sits in the garage for a month when I have alot cooking. In the back of my mind I knew they were below so-so but I was just fooling myself. Good intervention and I'm not going to wait around. My other two don't have those sidewall gashes but they are old, I think the mfg years are in the early 2000's. I will just replace all of them and be done with it...

 

[Coug]

Thanks Coug for the good advice. I was going to drag my feet but not now, I'm actively looking for replacements.

I had good experience with Feltz tire for buying surplus tires (date codes 2018 or newer guaranteed)

I had a bad experience with a seller down in Texas a couple years ago that managed to screw up the first order by shipping the wrong brand of tire, then second batch 3 of the 4 had holes in the sides, and third shipment of 3 tires also had a bad tire. Finally got him to refund me for that last bad tire and used one I had here. 6 months later I removed them due to sidewalls failing.
He let me keep the first batch of tires because shipping them back cost more than he's make reselling them. They also showed sidewall cracking when first inflated, but looked fine before that.

 

[Warhammer1]

I had good experience with Feltz tire for buying surplus tires (date codes 2018 or newer guaranteed)

I had a bad experience with a seller down in Texas a couple years ago that managed to screw up the first order by shipping the wrong brand of tire, then second batch 3 of the 4 had holes in the sides, and third shipment of 3 tires also had a bad tire. Finally got him to refund me for that last bad tire and used one I had here. 6 months later I removed them due to sidewalls failing.
He let me keep the first batch of tires because shipping them back cost more than he's make reselling them. They also showed sidewall cracking when first inflated, but looked fine before that.

Oh good Lord that's my nightmare when I order sight unseen.... Thanks Coug, I did some searches here and either you or someone else in an older thread mentioned Feltz, so I was on their site yesterday. I will reach out to them tomorrow about that 2018 mfg guarantee, I like that plus their pricing.

 

[Coug]

Oh good Lord that's my nightmare when I order sight unseen.... Thanks Coug, I did some searches here and either you or someone else in an older thread mentioned Feltz, so I was on their site yesterday. I will reach out to them tomorrow about that 2018 mfg guarantee, I like that plus their pricing.

I forget if I called them or they called me, but I had a good conversation with one of the owners I think about the tires and shipping options and whatnot. Will definitely buy from them again when I need more tires.

 

[Warhammer1]

@Coug and @HUMMER H1 thanks a bunch for the info on Dustin @ Feltz, I spent a productive half hour with him and he was very transparent on his tires, what the grades mean and how they're warehoused on-site. I asked about the BFG Bajas first but he didn't have enough for a set, so I just purchased 4 x MTs which will serve my purposes just fine. Unless there's a compelling reason for me not to, I'm just going to re-install my runflats (vs omitting them). Now I'll have to scour SS and YT so I can learn how to do the tire swapouts like a pro

 

[HUMMER H1]

@Coug and @HUMMER H1 thanks a bunch for the info on Dustin @ Feltz, I spent a productive half hour with him and he was very transparent on his tires, what the grades mean and how they're warehoused on-site. I asked about the BFG Bajas first but he didn't have enough for a set, so I just purchased 4 x MTs which will serve my purposes just fine. Unless there's a compelling reason for me not to, I'm just going to re-install my runflats (vs omitting them). Now I'll have to scour SS and YT so I can learn how to do the tire swapouts like a pro

awesome
After you finish the humvee, drive the heck out it,
300.000 miles on mine and counting.

 

[HUMMER H1]

Mr TOBASH was supposed to come to California so we could go adventure with his humvee but he is too busy repairing human body parts.

 

[TOBASH]

Mr TOBASH was supposed to come to California so we could go adventure with his humvee but he is too busy repairing human body parts.

I seem to recall we had plans BUT you decided to go get your Civilian Garage Queen Hummer with square flat tires. How's that CEL???

 

[HUMMER H1]

Shots fired

 

[TOBASH]

I just purchased several.

My point is I put my $ where my mouth is.