Aged tires?

[V]

Did a search, but couldn't find much...

I'm looking to buy a new set of tires. So, I call Tire Rack to ask some misc Qs.
By chance, I find out that they won't sell a tire that is more than 4 years old.
My response was, "What?! So, a 3-yr-old tire is still considered new?" Yes....
It turns out that much of their stock is 1-2 years old. Warranty starts from date
of purchase, but still...would you want a "new," 3-year-old tire?

Is this the norm or do I need to find a new dealer?

 

[SYCLONE#1531]

Re: Aged tires?

Its probally the same everywhere you go. I think it would take more than 3 years for tires to start degrading. Ive got a 76 Corvette that has sat in my garage since 91. The tires held air and looked good up to a few yaears ago then the tread actually seperated away from the sidewalls!! This took 18 years! So if it were my guess, you shouldnt have to worry about the age of the tires at the local dealers. This is just my opinion.

 

[LOWBLAZERO1]

Re: Aged tires?

the date the tires were produced is coded on the sidewall, should be info on how to decode the side wall markings. dateline did an investigation on this and found tires at walmart that were like 8 years old.

 

[Black Knight]

Re: Aged tires?

Yeah everyone started freaking out after shows started talking about how a couple year old tire will kill you blah, blah, blah. So now most places don't sell stuff much older then the 3-4 year mark because of just this, even though the tire is perfectly safe. You will be hard pressed to find anything that is under a year old, since most are manufactured over seas and it takes a good six months to just get here.

The date the tire was manufactured is the last 4 digits of the DOT number, the first 2 are the week of the year and the last 2 are the year. 1109 would be the 11th week (so about mid to end of March) of 2009. If it only has 3 digits 119, then it is very old, they went to a 4 digit code at the beginning of 2000. So that example would be mid March 1999.

HTH

 

[leadfoot]

Re: Aged tires?

Look for the serial number on the sidewall (series of numbers and letters) the last two digits should be the year the tire was manufactured.

Consumer Reports just had a small article on this.

Being that tires are made with different rubber compounds it would be hard to pin point an "expiration date".

I would think that it is a legitimate question to ask the seller -"what year were these tires manufactured"

 

[jpalmer]

Re: Aged tires?

damn,my tires from Discount were all less than 6 months old and 2 were only 4 months

 

[NecroWolf]

Re: Aged tires?

i would think with proper storage age wouldn't be an issue for awhile on tires

 

[V]

Re: Aged tires?

the date the tires were produced is coded on the sidewall, should be info on how to decode the side wall markings.

Thanks, I know about date codes...I've never had a defective tire, so I've never worried much about their age. My original Firestones still look street-worthy (I don't drive them). I only got concerned because my last set of tires started cracking after only a few years.

dateline did an investigation on this and found tires at walmart that were like 8 years old.

I'm always suspicious of TV journalism ever since Dateline rigged those GM gas tanks to explode.

Interesting blog about tires: Georgia Injury Law

 

[V]

Re: Aged tires?

These are already half that age. So give me half-off."

I just might try that, thanks!

Good to hear from you, V.

Right back at ya! Haven't seen you O/L since you-know-who accidently sent you adware

 

[syclone0209]

Re: Aged tires?

i had to replace two tires recently on my ford. I bought all four at sams club at the same time and was going out to look at what size i needed to get and noticed they were already 9 years old, and had only been on the car for less than 2 years.