I got my 03 TLS in April of 03, and by November of 03 I took off the factory tires for snows. In the spring instead of putting them on again I took the opportunity to get better tires, and stored the Michelins in my basement. I held on to them in case I were to put them back on, or in case I needed one due to some problem like a sidewall bubble (which did happen once). But aside from that, once I found out how bad they were compared to even the super cheap Sumitomos, I no longer had any intention of putting them all back on.

So they are over five years old. They were stored off the concrete floor on wood shelves out of direct sunlight. The basement is fully underground so stays cool, might get in the 70's during the summer. I keep the humidity at around 55%RH. The tires were NOT in sealed plastic bags however. They don't look bad, but that "tire smell" I had in there for years after I stored them, is completely gone now which maybe suggests a lot of the oils have outgassed?

So are they useful to keep as emergency spares or should I just throw them out?

 

eh, I would just throw them away. Your emergency spare is in your trunk.

 

check the sidewall and in between the actual treads for cracking
Take them to a tire store and ask a professional opinion- they may buy them off you on the spot!
There are so much bettter tires available now for less cost-

use the storage space for the ~removed~ lower intake resonator box~

 

There is a code on the side of the tire that has the date it was produced

EDIT: just saw that that was pretty old.. newer ones will be 4301 (43rd week of 2001), 3403 (34th week of 2003), etc.