Something you may not know about tyres. How old are they?

[OzSTi]

Last night a club tech meet I learnt something about tyres I didn't know.




The code found on all tyres indicates when the tyre was made. The first two digits are the week of the year, so in this case my tyre was made in the 48th week (about end of Nov.) The last two are the year, so '06 for my tyre.

If it is a three digit code, say '486' plus an arrow symbol, that would be 48th week in 1996. Don't laugh some spare tyres out there will have been made in the 90's. A three digit code and no arrow indicates the '80's!

The letters indicate the who made them and where.

The tyre should be mounted so this code is on the outside of the rim.

Go check yours.

[tangcla]

hmm, interesting! Thanks - you learn something new every day

[sinist4]

thanks, this is sum valuable info

[Rosso]

Yes, very important info there.

Always good to check this if your going for a new set of rubber & the deal sounds too good to be true, might just be the company trying to get rid of old stock.

Happened to me once before, before i found out tyres had a use-by date

[OzSTi]

As the tyres guy said, "If you where to spend a week in bed not moving you'd be quite stiff when you got up, same with the tyre except it can then fail."

The issue of pressure also came up and he said a 3 psi drop from optimal can result in a 30% reduction in tyre life.

Better to err to over inflation than under, especially if loads are high.

38psi+.

[04GT]

Sweet now i'mma go check me tyres for their b'days lol

[deucer]

Happened to me once before, before i found out tyres had a use-by date

So what's the deal with use by dates for tyres Rosso?

[Mano™]

So really u can tell them to change the tyres if they r old stock, casue they said nothing about it aaaaaaaaannnnnnddddd u could have an argument ova it, and tell them to change the tyres around the otherway, if the numbers are not on in outside??

OOO i like i like hahaha.. wait till people know bout it, then they will b fuk'd from rippin people lol!

[Rosso]

Happened to me once before, before i found out tyres had a use-by date

So what's the deal with use by dates for tyres Rosso?

Well not so much a use by date, they do have a certain shelf life. i cant remember off the top of my head but i think that if you buy new tyres that are more than 2-3yrs (not 100% on this age) old according to the date made then dont accept em cause they go "off" (something to do with the rubber going hard/stail), not safe for road use.

[deucer]

Yeah makes sense. Thanks Rosso.

Cheers,
Deucer.

[ChrisGT]

Yes, very interesting, it got me checking my current hoops as I bought them from a place that has the occasional quality issue-but the price was right.
My Falken RT 615s were minted May 2005, I bought them March 2007, so nearly 2 years old
But I suppose these are a bit of a specilty tyre and not that popular so it's likely they would have been sitting on the shelf for a while.
The original RE050s were minted pretty close to when the car was completed in Japan.
At least armed with this info there may be a bit of negotiation available.