Their argument was that the tires were stored in the dark in a warehouse. What they clearly don't understand is tire rubber continues to harden from the moment the tire is removed from the mold. This process can continue up to 10 years or more. That means the grip of your tires reduces from the moment they were manufactured. Those who do huge mileages are usually not concerned about this as they wear the tires out before it is an issue. Here where I live most sane people have winter and summer tires (we call all season). Those then get used only 6 months of the year, so the danger is they rot out before they wear out. In my case that is definitely the case!
I got rid of a set of 10 year old winter tires 2 years ago. 3 tires were fine, but one had a slow leak I was not aware of. That leak meant the tire ran low and the sidewall of that tire started to split.
I have never thought about the donut spare tire in the 'R' or the XC. Both are the originals. I should consider swapping them out for safety!
The Toyota tire and rim were swapped when bought as the spare was totally rotten as it is mounted under the car, to the point there was a split in the side!
Neil.
