Put this document together about 15 years for a class I was teaching at the time to introduce individuals to the cars at my company. Covers basic knowledge, safety and various other aspects.

Any questions or comments would love to hear!

HTML: https://foreverpontiac.com/automobile-101/
Word doc: Auto Maintenance Safety & Driving Tips rev1.docx

Ringo deserves a large portion of the credit for this post as I asked him to review it first! I wasn't sure it was what the principals of How To's were trying to convey. I feel Ringo's guidance throughout this site is crucial to convey the right behavior we all have here!

13 hours ago, Last Indian said:

Put this document together about 15 years for a class I was teaching at the time to introduce individuals to the cars at my company. Covers basic knowledge, safety and various other aspects.

Any questions or comments would love to hear!

Auto Maintenance Safety & Driving Tips rev1.docx

Good read,  you would be surprised how many out there don't know some or all of these basic's.

I commend both of you, Last Indian and Ringo, for the content and direction of this material. As JUSTA said, it is amazing what is not taught these days in driver's education and basic auto mechanics.

 

Good, basic read. Auto maintenance is being lost with the current generation. Only thing I saw missing from the tire illustration was the mention that there is a Date of Manufacture on tires that can be important to know.

Right you are Walburn! It’s always on the front side of the tire and expressed in the week  number, two digit and last two digit of the year. Like 1217, which would be week 12 of 2017.

Another thing I'd like to remind people is age/UV exposure has a long term effect on your tires. You should replace your tires after a period of time, even if you still have good tread left on the them.

Think of an aging tire like an old rubber band. If you take a rubber band that's been sitting around a long time and stretch it, you will start to see cracks in the rubber. That's essentially what happens to a tire that's put on a vehicle and driven (or sitting) for a long time. Cracks in the rubber begin to develop over time. They may appear on the surface and inside the tire as well. This cracking can eventually cause the steel belts in the tread to separate from the rest of the tire. Thus making this a potentially deadly situation.

Since most of us classic car owners don't drive the tires off our cars every year, I think it's safe to say that many of us fall into this category where we have good tread on our classics but may not realize the potential danger old tires possess.

The length of time between replacement is subject to some debate. Some feel that tires should be replaced every six years no matter what, others say you can go up to ten years with proper maintenance and annual inspections. Regardless,  do yourself a favor and check the age of your tires.

I am a living example. When I purchased Lucy, it was in 1995. One day in 2006, I was going thru some of the documentation I got from the previous owner. I found a 1984 tire receipt for a tire store in Delaware for the purchase of a set of Goodyear Polyglas ST tires. These were same model of tires that were on the car at the time. Curious, I took the receipt and compared the serial number on the receipt to the tires. They matched! These tires more than 20 years old!! I knew this was a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off. So the next weekend I purchased a new set of BF Goodrich T/A radials. That's what I still run on Lucy today.

Very good point Frosty! A couple of things that can help with preserving tires or at least helping to insure they stay as good as possible for the time you run them is this. 

When you can keep them in a dark place, so store the car in a garage with no window if possible or keep the car covered in a garage. Also when possible keep the car of the ground. Both are a little tough to do regularly, unless you’re anal like me, but it does help.

When did tire manufacturers start putting the born on date on tires?

At lease since the 1980s, perhaps longer. I can't find anything online saying specifically when the DOT put that requirement into effect. However, it makes sense.

7 hours ago, Frosty said:

At lease since the 1980s, perhaps longer. I can't find anything online saying specifically when the DOT put that requirement into effect. However, it makes sense.

Yes at least, but I think back into the 60s. Anything before 2000 was a 3 digit code which made year differentiation harder.

11 hours ago, Last Indian said:

Yes at least, but I think back into the 60s. Anything before 2000 was a 3 digit code which made year differentiation harder.

Last Indian is correct, so the date code for a 1980s and 1990s tire will be same, making it harder to know how old the tire really is without the sales receipt.

For example a date code of 357 means the tire was made the 35th week of 1987 or was it 1997?

Came upon this topic again yesterday and thought it should be used more so converted it to a page to give it a little more notoriety and ease of use on smaller devices. 

https://foreverpontiac.com/automobile-101/