No, this is not a restoration question...

My 72 Chevelle sat in storage for 8 or 9 years before I bought it a few months ago.

I found a receipt in the glove box for a set of BFG T/A's from the early 80's, and it's wearing T/A's now (don't know if it's the same set or not).

The tires look OK to me. No obvious dry rot, and a fair amount of tread left.

If these tires are indeed 20 years old, should I be concerned (even if they are low mileage)?

I couldn't see any obvious date codes on the tires, but maybe I'm missing them.

I guess I could just pop for a new set of tires, but I have other things I'd like to spend my money on instead...

Have you ever had a brand new BFG t/a set next to the tires that are on your chevelle now for a comparrison, I have noticed a slight difference in how the lettering and the tread looks between older and newer BFG's. So you could always go to a tire shop and BS and say that you are intrested in a 275/60 BFG t/a ( I'm only using this size for example) and say that you are unsure if it will fit and if you could sit it next to your fender well to see if it will fit, then compare the lettering and tread. This is all I can think of or ask them if they look like older BFG's.

A friend of mine as a 71 cuda that has tires on it that were installed in 1984 and they are still on there now, he only drives it to car shows and cruise-ins and very rarely any other time. The tread on his tires look real similar to the bias ply style like the polyglas and wide ovals, he says he thinks they are kelly sprindfeild tires all that I can see written on them is grand am and super wide g/t. It does look like there are some cracks starting to form on the sidewalls though but he drives long distances with them.

Brandon

Yes,tires are date-coded.

Where you see DOT, it may be on one side of the tire or the other in there it tells you the date but I cant remember which letters or numbers tell the date. A tire shop would be able to tell you. If the tire doesn't have any dry rot on the sidewall or in the tread or flat spots from sitting then I would drive on them. You can tell flat spots from driving, it would probably cause a vibration.

Usually it 3 digits in an area that looks depressed like it was burnt in. First 2 are the week, last one is last # of that year. So 098 would be the 9th week of 1988, 1998 etc. Won't pinpoint the decade, but other things about the tire would, like lettering mentioned above. If theres no dry rot, roll 'em!