I'm buying new tires for my 2004 LS430 and when I checked the spare I discovered it is a never used original with a date code of 0704. I'm going to replace it with a new tire but this old spare is in such nice shape that it almost seems a shame to throw it out. I'm curious what others think? Are there people who show these cars that might have an interest in an original tire?

 

Mine also on my 2002! Never hit the pavement and I just can't bring myself to get rid of it. It's a dilemma until you get a flat for sure..one day though...

 

How Old - and Dangerous - Are Your Tires? | Edmunds

I have a 1995 pickup that I seldom drive since retiring in 2002. I only drive it if my wife is out in the Lexus or if I need to haul something big. I bought five new tires for it nine years ago because the tires had reached ten years old. They had lots of tread. They also had lots of little cracks in the sidewall. The current tires have about 5000 miles on them except the spare has zero miles. No visible cracks and they look like new. Next year I will spend a few hundred bucks on five new tires. Once my tires reach ten years, Discount Tire will refuse to service them except to replace them.

 

train yourself to think of tires as a consumable that degrades with both time and mileage, like oil. would you feel a nostalgic pain in draining 20 year old oil from a 4k-mile LS?

 

I believe it is the sun and ozone that ruins tires as they age. no sun in trunk but still best to keep one of old tires when you buy new ones.
my spare is a almost new Michelin Primacy that I kept from my first new set but it is getting too old now.
hated the Pirelli experiment and did not want one of those for a spare
when I bought my 1st set for the Lexus I got the best tire recommended on this forum and shortly there after I had a flat that was un repairable so I bought a pair of new Michelins and kept the almost new for a spare
since 2013 I have had Michelin I bought and on the car when I got it 2 sets of Pirelli and now trying Bridgestone but would not recommend them

 

I had a personal experience of using a brand new looking never used spare on my 12 year old car and putting it on another car and had a blow out on that tire for no reason. Three years ago putting new tires on my LS430 and after talking and researching and my personal experience I replaced my never used new looking spare with the best looking one taken off. There is a chemical breakdown in the rubber with age.

 

as others have said, unfortunately rubber tires have a lifespan, and it's about 6-8 years max

 

I had this problem in my 2008 Sequoia recently.. was going downtown for a monster truck show in April, and hit something in the road that sliced a 4 inch gash in one of my tires. When I pulled the spare out, it was the original one from 2008 with the stickers still intact on it, and it was SOOOO dry rotted that I ended up forfeiting the tickets because there was NO WAY that I was going on the freeway with that ratty old cracked spare!

I've made it a point to start replacing the spare tires now as well.

 

I think y’all are missing the question of the OP.
No, I don’t think anyone would be in need for an original tire. The car isn’t really old enough to be a collectible or be restored to concours condition. They all used common sizes from common manufacturers, not like it’s a mid 80s Countach or anything. Chuck that thing and never think about it again, hang it from a tree, or make a cool garage clock out of it.

 

Thank you JaySco for your reply. That was my thought as well but it's nice to have it confirmed. Maybe if it was the original spare on a 1930 Duesenberg I'd keep it as a collectible. In this case, I just took pictures .