You're right Ford replaced the tires on a recall campaign it was around 2000-01 from memory, you had to look at the date codes on them if they fit into that number then they were replaced and you drilled holes in the sidewall. Not sure but i think firestone payed for some part of it and ford did not use Firestones after that.Nick

 

Your tires are not so old that they pre-date the requirement for a date code on the sidewall. Anything produced since 2000 has a four-digit code molded into the sidewall. Note the 5107 at the far right in this image. This tire was made in the 51st week of 2007. (images from tirerack.com)






For pre-2000 tires, there was a three digit code, and it was vague. Note the 408 at the far right. This tire was made in the 40th week of the "8th decade," but there's no way to know which decade.






But this inability to be completely sure of the date of manufacture on a pre-2000 tire is not important, anyway, as any tire made prior to 2000 is already too old to be on your car and should be replaced. In other words, the mere fact that it has a three-digit date code is enough to indicate replacement is needed.

 

Who in the h*ll do you think you are?You don't know me,the only ignorance i'm reading here is from you.You can have prior warning, i had a tire blow out i had a vibration although brief occured about 15 seconds before it happened i was doing 55mph.If you read my post you'd understand,i wish no ill will on any one not even you .Nick

 

If you post bold statements on a public forum about your disregard for safety then be prepared for someone to point out that it is a stupid decision.


If you want to endanger yourself with your decisions that is your deal. I do not have to know you to know a stupid decision when I see it. This is not the only time this subject has come up & there is always someone who thinks that common sense does not apply to them.


You wrote (in your elementary school version of English) that "if they are not dry rot cracked i will run e'm,most of the time you can feel a problem,not always tho,drive at you own risk". I am not the only one who thinks you are a fool for this statement. I am just the guy who pointed it out.


Enjoy your car & your old tires. Hopefully if the car wrecks only you will be hurt by your decision & not one of your loved ones or an innocent bystander.

 

The point, which you seem to be missing, is that you can make your arguments and your points without resorting to insult words, like "stupid," which you just used, along with "ignorant," "foolish," "denier", and so forth. There's absolutely no call for any of these.

 

Interesting discussion. I have a lot of sets of tires sitting out on my driveway and I went and looked at them, and only a couple have the DOT information on them that resembles what Allan just posted. Perhaps they have a different code that tells the date of manufacture and I just didn't recognize it. Some of them are "inside out" and I didn't have a flashlight nor did I want to crawl around in the dirt.




I, too, have been guilty of riding on older tires than I should. But with my love of buying tires(don't ask) that doesn't happen often. I put on a spare a couple months ago, and just as I was exiting off the interstate not many days after that the tread separated and beat the heck out of the quarter panel. That tire is dismounted and discarded now, it would be interesting to know when it was made.

 

I don't know when date codes were required at all, but I'm sure there's some date on which the requirement began. If there's no date code at all, the tires are decades old.

I've done a little more reading on this, and if a tire was manufactured in the '90s and thus has a three-digit date code, there will be a small triangle molded into the tire after the code. This indicates the 1990s as the "year" digit only tells the year of the decade (7th year, 8th year, etc.), not the actual year. But this distinguishes tires made in the '90s from tires made earlier as those won't have the triangle.

Here's what the triangle looks like:





So the rule of thumb is:

three-digit date code, no triangle: made prior to 1990
three-digit date code, with triangle: made between 1990 and July 2, 2000 (the actual date the four-digit date code requirement went into effect)
four-digit date code: made after 7/2/2000

 

Ok Dave, you've made your point. I can see the veins on your neck really starting to protrude from here. Your going to give yourself a stroke. I have to agree with Jaunty here, you crossed the line.


We understand the safety aspects of what your saying and agree. However it does boil down to choice and circumstance.

 

The formula for determining when it is appropriate to replace your tires is simple.

Price of tires < inconvience of blown tire OR cost of repairs from an accident involving a tire failure.

All my best,

Tom

 

Clever, but not very helpful as this equation is true all the time, including the moment you drive away from the tire dealer with your new, $1000 set of tires.

 

There's no shelf life on any tires, Goodyear or otherwise. Tires start to age the moment they're made, and it's due to exposure to the atmosphere, which can't be stopped unless they're stored in something other than an air environment, which certainly isn't going to happen.

 

I've personally seen what age can do to a BFG T/A with next to no miles on it.

I had what felt like a bent wheel or axle, which was quite baffling as I knew 110% that I had done nothing that could have caused such.

Turns out the center of the tire had what looked like a decent sized dent in the center of the tread.
<broken/collapsed belt(s) I presume>

The tire was right @ 10 years old at the time & probably had no more than 2500 miles on it.

About a month after replacing that bad one ... another did the exact same thing.

Long story short ...

Ended up replacing the remaining (3).

Admittedly tough to swallow & part with the cash when they otherwise looked like they were brand new & weren't even broken in so to speak ..... but not worth the danger.

Be careful with using such tires as "rollers" as well.

There was someone on the MarkVII forum that had a tire blow out on his car as it was just sitting in his garage doing nothing.

 

Well, I don't have this problem as the tread seems to wear out before the tires get to be very old. Seems as if the rears always wear a lot faster, too.

 

Tyres are your single biggest unknown. Most older tyres will 'look' fine but the ageing of the rubber will largely be unseen.
One of the worst things you can do to a tyre , regardless of it manufacturer, is to leave a 4000- 5000 pound car sitting on them for extended periods.
I learned a while ago to make it habit to replace tyres @ the 8 yr mark. The trailer can always have a new set of white walls
Like most people on here I have horror stories of tyres coming apart at the most inopportune time ( like when your screwing around with your mates at warp factor 5).
I had one come apart with no warning on A 64 TBird I was driving. Thankfully it was a rear tyre but the potential damage it could have done to the cars rear quarter and potential for the destruction of the fender skirt would have far exceeded the price of 4 new tyres.
Also most insurance companys on checking the date code probably wouldn't cough up.
This is the 10 mm of rubber between the road and your pride and joy needs to be treated with the respect and care it deserves.
My 2 bobs worth

 

There is nothing more secure then the feeling you get when you put a new set of tires on your car. You feel in your hands the strength of the tires, cornering is better ....its just feels good. And the worry is gone. I am awaiting install of my new larger tires and new ones at that. I can't wait to drive with greater confidence and that is what its all about

 

About three years ago, I had a tire give out while I was under the car .

Fortunately, it didn't blow out - it just started to leak.
I was under the front of the car, with two jackstands under the front suspension, when I heard a pretty darned loud HISSSSSSS.
I thought, "What the hell is that?" I thought the portable air compressor had blown a gasket.
I crawled out and walked to the back of the car. The compressor was fine, but there was a helluva hiss from the back of the car. Stuck my head under and realized it was a tire. Jacked it up and pulled the tire, and, I'll be damned, the inside sidewall of one of the rear tires had a bubble the size of my fist and was hissing out where the bubble had pulled the bead away from the rim.
If I'd been on the highway, it could've killed me.

And the kicker:

The tires were two weeks old.

Since I got it replaced, I haven't had another problem, but, yes, they can also go while just sitting still, and unusual events, such as blowouts, can happen on new tires, too.

No question, using old tires is taking a risk, but even new tires aren't perfect, and when your number's up, it's up.

- Eric

 

I by no means posted disregards for safety nor do i want to endanger myself or passengers or anyone else.Yes i wrote in elementy school english at 2am pacific time."Drive at your own risk" implying that i do not condone that, maybe you didn't comprehend that part (grammer school reading)?Trying to intimidate me by your name calling and ill will by calling me names and hoping i crash without any one else involved are unwarranted.Drive safely and have a nice day.Nick

 

I didn't know about the federal tpms requirement. When did that come into force?.
I have read about the Ford/Firestone issue. A complicated and controversial tale with neither party looking good.
Tpms means another complication that doesn't achieve much imo.


Remember when you checked the oil, water and tires weekly?, or the guy who pumped your gas did it for you?.
Perhaps if the population as a whole could be educated into getting into the habit of routine safety checks instead of leaving it all to the car there would be far fewer accidents and breakdowns.


Roger.

 

I seen it on all 2008 my here in the states.Its for the gas and go mentality,I agree Roger thats what i was taught before i could drive,People are lazy or don't want to do regular checks, the Firestone debauckle caused the feds to step in.Nick

 

It's not oxygen which destroys them. It's the ozone gas and ultra-violet light. Here in Germany, you're supposed to replace your tires, once they reach 8 years old. However, depending on storage, this is just a guideline for extreme cases. I've taken the car to inspection with snowtires which were older and the inspector didn't bother to give me a hard time about it.
The best way to store tires is in a cool, dark basement.
The highway speeds you guys talk about are cruising speeds over here

 

Doubtful. One set were replacement tires on an 02 Silverado. Maybe the rules are different for light truck tires? But some of the others have part of the DOT code, some just say DOT, others have different stuff all together. None of them had triangles. Why can't they just put the date on there instead of some stupid code that can't be figured out easily?

 

Geez Mike, that would be too easy.

 

The formula for determining when it is appropriate to replace your tires is simple.

Price of tires < inconvience of blown tire OR cost of repairs from an accident involving a tire failure.

All my best,

Tom


I would add to the inconvenience and cost in the calculation the value of your life or of anyone else's life who might be involved in an accident. In my case, when the 10 year old BFG came apart, I just missed a head on collision as I shot across the road at 55mph. It would probably have been deadly.

 

Not that easy. But, still easy enuff:

http://www.goodyear.eu/de_de/tire-ad...ead-a-tire.jsp

"327", in that code, means the 32nd week in 1997.
Beginning 2000, the production week and year will appear as a 4 digit number. For example, the number "1602" means the 16th week of 2002

 

Don't forget to make sure correct and professional install is done. The last set of tires I had installed the tech inspected the rim, steal brushed the sealant from the rim and wiped down the rim. He applied the sealant completely. The tires were balanced and just prior to install the tech looked the tire over and inspected how it was sitting on the rim.
The best tire is only as good as the installation.

 

A gratuitous shot of my rear tire from the parking lot at work today:



Before anyone gets himself worked into a frenzy about the dangers of driving on worn tires, losing control and running into a bus of nuns and causing a fiery crash, be aware that the streets of Phoenix are clean and dry so traction isn't an issue and the bus of nuns is safe. I have a new set of 15" wheels and tires that will soon be installed so these are getting their final workout.

 

Ok so please tell me if I'm looking in the right spot on my tires. I attached a pic of each lh tire and I find it funny that 2 of the same tires purchased at the same time were manufactured in 2 different countries.

 

Looking in the right spot for what? You're obviously looking at the spot where the country of manufacture is molded, and you have one Canada-made tire and one USA-made tire. I don't think that's so unusual in this global economy.

But what you should do is find the date codes and see if they're pretty close to each other. They should be, and they shouldn't be dated too much earlier (maybe no more than 6 months?) than the date you bought the tires.

 

I am looking for the date codes but maybe the numbers in those are not them???

 

No, they're not. They should be in that area, though. Somewhere around the inside edge of the tire just outside the rim. The typesize should be larger, too, just like the "5107" in the far right in this picture. You're looking for four numbers where the first two will be between 1 and 52 and the second two will the last two digits of the year starting with 00 for 2000 (assuming they were made after July 2000). Keep looking.

 

It's only on one side of the tire, so it quite possibly could be facing to the inside.

 

Good thread to remind us of the importance of checking date codes on tires on our classic cars. Obviously we don't run into this problem with daily drivers since they usually wear out well before they get to that age. I'm going to check mine now to make sure that they are not 10yrs old or older.

 

True. In those two photos he posted, though, you can see the white sidewall, and I think white sidewall tires have the sidewall on only one side, the "outside" and main side of the tire. I'm guessing that's the same side as where the date is (but I don't know for sure).

 

Thats right it's on the opposite side of the whitewall or white lettered side,from what i've seen.Nick

 

This is not the case for my tires. I have two sets of white sidewalls on my cars, one Firestone, the other Mastercraft. The date codes are on the same side as the sidewalls in both cases.

 

Checked mine today and found the dates were "12902". Not sure if that's the 29th week or day 129 of the year (2002), but either way, they are older than 10 yrs so I guess I will be looking for tires over the next few months. Too bad since visibly they look great and ride really well with no vibration, etc.

 

It's not either one. Go back and look again. Date codes are three digits if the tire was made before July 2000 or four digits if made after that. They're not five digits.

For four-digit codes, the first two are the week number, so it must be between 1 and 52, and the last two are the last two digits of the year beginning with 00 for the year 2000. Note my post above showing the "5107" as an example of a four-digit code. That tire was made in the 51st week of 2007.

 

So here's a better pic of my tire. So which number is it, the 20152 or the 27702? There are no other numbers on the tire other than size and max psi, weight, etc.

 

It should be a number that looks like it's inside of a little plate (a cartouche, if you will), like this:



... not just on the tire, with no surrounding lines, like yours:



- Eric

 

It's neither! This is not rocket science. Which part of "it's not a 5-digit number" is not clear?

As Eric points out, it's elsewhere on the tire, and as discussed earlier, it's possible it's on the other side of the tire as the law requires that the date code be printed on only one side. It's possible that all of your tires were mounted in such a way that the date codes are all on the inboard side. If this is the case, I'm guessing the only way you're going to reasonably see it is to either put the car up on a lift so you can see the inboard side and then spin it until you find the code, or you'll have to remove a tire to look.

But note that it's probably unlikely that all four of your tires, even they were all bought at the same time from the same place, will have the same date code. You'll want to look at all four of them.

Just for yuks, I went out into the garage just now and looked at the date codes on the tires on two of our cars On a set of Firestones I bought in June 2009, two tires had codes 1008 and two had 3408. The 1008 translates to the 10th week of 2008, which means about the middle of March, which means that those tires were 15 months old when I got them. That's kind of annoying, and I might have asked for newer ones at the time had I known enough to look. The other two were made in late August/early September 2008, which is still pretty old for being "new" tires.

On the other car, which we just new bought last month, all four tires have the code 4413, which translates to about the end of October/early November of last year, which is only about four months ago, which isn't so bad.