Need tire help! And how bad are old tires….

[MY1GTS]

I have a 2013 GTS with roughly 13,000 miles on the original tires, they have a ton of tread left plus aren’t even near the wear bars as I just drive it around town mostly and go on the hwy once a year. I purchased 2 sets of extra tires when you could buy them directly from the supplier at cost, 1 set is dated stamped 2014 the other is date stamped 2015 and have been stored in a heated warehouse since I got them. Can I still use the original tires and how long are stored tires good for with factory tape still on them.

 

[BoondocSaint]

Stored properly those older tires will be fine to drive on, but not much more. The rubber hardens over time and the tire will lose a lot of it's designed performance. These cars have a hard time putting power down with good tires, old tires will not hold traction under acceleration or cornering. Keep in mind that these cars make almost all their torque around 2k rpm, not 5-6k rpm like an average V8. At almost all times the car will be ready to break old tires loose. It's one of the sad things about these cars, the tires will either expire because of use...or will simply time out from sitting. Tires are timing out around 10 years give or take, for performance use probably closer to 5-6 years.