The dangers of new old tires.

[nevermind65]

This is a pretty interesting article on new tires that have been sitting on the shelf for years. This is probably a little blown out of proportion, but basically true. Michelin told me a while back that a tire has a 10 year "use" span, and 6 year shelf life.

Considering the rarity of some tire sizes for our Cobras, this may be worth taking a look at.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897

[Doug I]

Having gone through this I'd check the date codes on each tire you buy.

A while back I put 4 new tires on our Rodeo. At 70 mph one of them threw 3/4 of the tread. Fortunately the casing did not come apart and it held pressure.

Found out it was an old new tire. Response of the tire place was "yeah so - prove that was the tire we sold you"

By noting the batch numbers and date codes of the tires on your receipt and having them sign it at purchase is a good way to ensure you have new new tires and can prove, should you ever have to, that 'yes' that is indeed the tire you were sold.

[Power Surge]

I work for Goodyear now and one of the things that's nice is that we record the DOT number from the side of EVERY tire we sell.

If you buy new tires and want to know when they were made, look for the last 4 digits of the DOT number. The first two are the week and the second are the year. So 1908 would be the 19th week of 2008.

Remember that the DOT is on both sides of the tire, but it's only a partial number on one side (the partial side doesn't have the date portion) and the full number on the other side, so make sure you look at the right side.

[marcalan]

I want to thank you for posting this link. I found it eye opening. Going out to check all the date codes on my vehicles now.

[wtm442]

Originally Posted by Power Surge

Remember that the DOT is on both sides of the tire, but it's only a partial number on one side (the partial side doesn't have the date portion) and the full number on the other side, so make sure you look at the right side.

Usually the date code is on the inside of a mounted tire.

Many "experts" say the shelf life of a tire is 6 years (Ford), but others say you should replace a tire after it is 10 years old (Bridgestone). Others say 5 years if you are in a hot climate and ten years if you are in a cold climate.

All I know is that my SPF was manufactured in 2001, so the tires are at least 7 years old, and will be replaced this winter.

Here is good explanation of date codes
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=11

[Velox]

I just went thru this with my SPF, found all my tires were 8 or 9 years old. Tried to order tires from a number of sites including TireRack but none would confirm date codes on tires being bought. Finally found a Tires Plus that agreed to order in the tires I wanted and allow me to confirm date codes before paid for - they had called the source and apparently somebody agreed to actually go look at the tires before they were shipped. Anyway got 4 new tires all dated the 20th week of 2008

[Excaliber]

This could be why there are some reports of the Goodyear 'Bill Boards' having 'age cracks' on the sidewalls shortly after purchase. Perhaps it's because they really are old tires been sitting in the warehouse.

[madmaxx]

As important check any tires you buy for your trailers, it is even worse as far as trying to get a "new" tire.