A Charger going over the mountains here yesterday.

[lloyd3]

I was driving home from a little fishing excursion here in the mountains yesterday and passed a 70 R/T in Plum Crazy going up the western slope of the hill up to the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 here. There were a few other collector cars along the way as well (older Porsches) so I'm assuming a car show up was going on up-there somewhere(?). It didn't strike me that the driver was pushing it all that hard (although I could definitely hear his big block roaring when I went by). The race to the top there can be fairly daunting, with steep grades and lots of high-speed traffic trying to make a "run for it" before elevation and low oxygen causes the inevitable slow down near the top (@ 11,013 feet above mean sea level). I was in a modern, turbocharged Mazda crossover and it took me very little effort to zoom up the hill (modern stuff after all, eh?) but it's easy to get stuck in the slow lanes there, behind a big (& even slower) truck. The car looked pretty respectable (from my quick view of it), and it got me to thinking about the subject (of course). Would I subject my car to such a challenge?  The loose gravel & road grime alone would be discouraging, not to mention all the almost $5/gal premium gas I'd need to burn to do it.  So...I'd guess I'm pretty-much limited to secondary highways anymore with this car. Old and complacent now.

I-70 is almost always 6-lanes of combat traffic traffic here on the Front Range of Colorado anymore (heck, all the big Interstate highways here are like that now), with average speeds in the 70s to low-80s. Even without the big mountain passes to contend with, my old stocker 4-speed set up (w/the 3.54/1 Dana) is churning some fairly high RPMs to do a constant 70 mph. I can do it I suppose, I just wouldn't want to. Cruising at 60-65 is fine, much more than that however, and it gets onerous. Probably the best argument for a 5-speed Tremec w/overdrive there is. I'm guessing an automatic car would be easier to live with in that situation, but even that doesn't sound all that great to me.  Not exactly ready for the old-folks home just yet, but small towns and back roads are far-more comfortable for me in this old ride. Oh, snowing here today, BTW.

[472 R/T SE]

Wasn't me, lol.

I don't have any issues going anywhere with my "driver".  Its insured.  Since moving I'm struggling to find All Mopar shows in western Kansas, lol, yeah the sticks.

So far Wichita & KC are the only ones.  I think we're mm#146, just west of the Old Wheels-n-Spokes.  So Id be driving the same distance going to Colorado as KC.

The '68 looks good man!  My favorite wheel too, lol.

[Todd Wilson]

Wasn't me, lol.

I don't have any issues going anywhere with my "driver".  Its insured.  Since moving I'm struggling to find All Mopar shows in western Kansas, lol, yeah the sticks.

So far Wichita & KC are the only ones.  I think we're mm#146, just west of the Old Wheels-n-Spokes.  So Id be driving the same distance going to Colorado as KC.

The '68 looks good man!  My favorite wheel too, lol.

Research the Kansas Mopar Cruise for 2022. They have a facebook page. Dont know if the leader is still on this site. Think it starts in Nebraska and ends in KC this year.


Todd

[lloyd3]

Another issue for me is now the age of my tires. A buddy had his sporty little 85 Nissan 300ZX out the other day for a little Spring jaunt (which he's owned since new) and the right-rear tire exploded like a bomb, spinning him into oncoming traffic. Thankfully everybody dodged him and he ended up back on his side of the road, but then he almost went over the bank(!). He had to find a replacement rim for the car (not easy) and... probably his underwear. He also had to replace all 4 tires as his had dry-rotted in storage (w/less than 20k miles on them). My tires are now 20-plus years old and while they still look great, I'm forewarned at this point. 

[b5blue]

Dude get new rubber! 

[472 R/T SE]

Dude get new rubber! 

Iirc, tires are date coded.  They used to build them in bulk.  I used to know how to check.

Sure wish Goodyear still made rwl series for us.  I'm anti establishment, just say no to BFG unless you wanna be like everyone else, lol.

[lloyd3]

Like everything else, tires cost substantially more now. I'm remembering also when I last looked for tires for this car (& these rims) options were very limited locally.  I had considered replacement all-chrome Magnum 500s (which are wider & in 15-inch options) but saw lots of issues being reported as to build quality problems. It was bad enough to stop me from considering it then (God only knows where all that is now?)

This car puddles around the neighborhood and runs into town for quick errands when the rush-hour traffic patterns are at their ebb. Not many hard pulls and really no high-speed stuff of late.  I've inspected these tires regularly for problems and haven't seen anything alarming yet. Whistling past the graveyard, I know... but other things always seem to be more of a priority here of late. Had an IRS "surprise" this Spring so cash is tight (& will be for a while).  If anybody here knows of another great option for my situation, then I'm all ears, but otherwise these tires will have to go another year.

[Daytona R/T SE]

Like everything else, tires cost substantially more now. I'm remembering also when I last looked for tires for this car (& these rims) options were very limited locally.  I had considered replacement all-chrome Magnum 500s (which are wider & in 15-inch options) but saw lots of issues being reported as to build quality problems. It was bad enough to stop me from considering it then (God only knows where all that is now?)

This car puddles around the neighborhood and runs into town for quick errands when the rush-hour traffic patterns are at their ebb. Not many hard pulls and really no high-speed stuff of late.  I've inspected these tires regularly for problems and haven't seen anything alarming yet. Whistling past the graveyard, I know... but other things always seem to be more of a priority here of late. Had an IRS "surprise" this Spring so cash is tight (& will be for a while).  If anybody here knows of another great option for my situation, then I'm all ears, but otherwise these tires will have to go another year.

I've had old tires explode on cars while they were sitting still in the garage.

looked new, but BLAMMO !!!

[b5blue]

Just what size are you looking for? I got a set of tire AND rims for my Dakota for 250.00 off facebook. The guy was putting fancy rims and RWL tires on a Ram he just bought.(They are less than a year old.)

[RallyeMike]

This car puddles around the neighborhood and runs into town for quick errands when the rush-hour traffic patterns are at their ebb. Not many hard pulls and really no high-speed stuff of late.  I've inspected these tires regularly for problems and haven't seen anything alarming yet. Whistling past the graveyard, I know... but other things always seem to be more of a priority here of late. Had an IRS "surprise" this Spring so cash is tight (& will be for a while).  If anybody here knows of another great option for my situation, then I'm all ears, but otherwise these tires will have to go another year.

Tires are way cheaper than fixing a wasted quarter panel, fender, or way worse. Yes, you can be the lucky guy who runs his tires for 25 years and gets away with it, or you can be the guy who's tires delaminated at 13 years and 30k miles (my Ram).  You can't see all types of tire degradation, so visual inspection only goes so far. Go by the date code and get rid of old tires.

No cash? See the interest on your credit card cheap insurance!

[73rallye440magnum]

I wouldn't want to experience tire failure at even 20 mph.

What size ya looking for?

I am down in Colorado City.

[Mike DC]

           
IMO you cannot take the same risks (age-wise) on 21st-century tires that you could take on older ones.  Modern tires seem to have gotten worse about coming apart without warning signs.