TIRE DATE CODES

[Jim Benjaminson]

Was inspecting a tractor trailer rig this past week and in talking with the driver, he showed me a blown tire.  He'd said he'd bought "8 new ones for the drive axles" -- and this was one of them.  Date code showed they were anything BUT new.....scary - 80,000 pounds hurtling down the road at 70 miles an hour with "new" tires. 

[Richard Dryman]

Well, here it is about 2 months after I wrote the subject post.
AND guess what, I had a tire separation on a tire on my 65 Austin-Healey 3000. Checking the code indicated *483*--could it be 93 or 83; I remembered and yes, the kept receipt said the 4 tires were bought in April 1984 !!!!!!
These are radial Dunlop tires with steel belts; bias ply tires would be even more fragile. The rip on the tread was about 4 inches long and the steel belts were shredded--I couldn't drive over 40MPH because the car shook so bad.
So, now I am looking at 4 new tires [really should buy a new spare also]. This seems to be a 'do as I say' not 'do as I do'.
The tires probably had less than 5000 miles on them and they looked brand-new and haven't driven more than 150 miles per year for the past 5+ years.
This happened about 1 1/2 miles from my house and I did not experience a 'blow-out' because of the separation.
The wire wheels also require tires WITH tubes like most of your tires.
If I had been a long way from home, or had a blowout, or turned the car over: all would be very bad.
Suggest if your tires do not have the next to last number in the code as "0" that is required after 2000, meaning they are less than 8 years old; you SHOULD buy new tires unless you have a trailer queen. Because you never know~~~~~~~

[Richard Dryman]

Many old tires get old from the inside out. It is advisible not to go very fast on bias tires older than 10 years. Type 'tire date codes' into Google to find out what all the numbers mean. Read up on the data and what it means.
ALSO, some very famous old tire dealers/mfrs are selling tires that have sat in their warehouse for 10 years or more; these are generally low sellling volume tires. Make sure you have return authorization if you receive a set that are very old to start with.