Do tyres have an experation date?

Tyres do have an expiration date, which is approximately six years of life (in Germany it is illegal to drive on tyres that are 5 or more years old) After this amount of time, tyres sort of internally dry-rot, which can cause the tread to fail by becoming delaminated, which often leads to fatal accidents? The way to check your tyres date is by looking at the end of your DOT code, it will be either 3 or 4 numbers the code on my tyre was 3705, meaning, that my tires were made the 37th week of 2005 Aged Tyres - ABC News

 

Pretty good info to look at. (Its been out for a long time)

 

Tech in America's Tire Company pointed that out to me when I was purchasing tires...Guess I'm gonna have to do it each and every time, and not to expect a sale price when it comes to new and "freshly" made tires.

 

interesting, very interesting.

I actually heard something about this before. Just can't remember where.

 

Hmm, I was hoping it would be more than 5-6 years. I don't drive that many miles per year!

 

hmmm interesting

 

I own a large tire shop in southern ontario, and we have been getting this questions alot more now that ABC or CBC did a segment on it. You really need to be careful, I repalce tires on peoples cars all the time that they say"I bought these 2 years ago at XXX and they dont grip that well, and slide alot"

Time after time, the tires are 6 years old...which in turn they were 4 years old when pruchased...tiss tiss

Complete DOT's are only printed on one side of the tire...make sure to find the 4 diget numerical side

 

huh interesting info, can't say I knew that :thumb:

 

What do you guy's think about flat spotting tires while in storage? I hear mixed emotions. Some say put your car on jack stands others say that's bad for the suspension.

 

Both are bad. Best option is a set of rims/tires that are for just storage. Store the good set horizontal and away from direct sunlight.

 

agreed above...dif rims and tires is best...with that beign said...we store 8-9 cars a year in my shop all on there normal rolling stock, and we have never had a flat spotting issue ever..some protiosn heated and some not...

if you got rims switch em, if not, i wouldnt worry urself

 

Thank you.

 

Over inflate the tyres (50psi) and put car on Tyre Cradles to avoid flat spots. Do not place car jacks as these will unload the suspension and may do harm. Some vehicles should not be stored with the suspensions unloaded (check with manufacturer)

 

thnx for the tip!

 

Has anyone heard of the Flat Stopper tire Supports. I just saw them at the whats new page @ AutoGeek... 260.00...Ouch

 

Cars with low profile tires will flat spot. It is a rule of thumb that if your car's tires have an aspect ratio of 50 or less, they will flat spot.

 

I would disagree there...I have 4 cars in my shop that have 45 or lower ratios, ranign from 17's, to 20's, and we have enver had issues...Sitting on them for well over 4 years to..

It really depends on proper inflation levels while in storage

 

I'm not in disagreement with your real-life experience, I'm just offering up information given to me by tyre mfg.


My Father's Jag collection has over-inflated tyres and tyre carriers (the tyres , like evrything else are original equipment, they are concours entrants, so I'm probably over cautious

 

if you can fill your tires with Nitrogen they in theory last longer. The one reason why tires tend to fail from the inside out is the oxygen in the standard tire inflation process. Within the oxygen is water, which seeps out through the poors of the rubber. As we all know, water and steel do not mix, the steel starts to rust and becomes brittle. The bands of most tires are made of steel, which with the water in the small oxygen molecules breaks down and studies have shown that the time frame of the 5-6 years is a good standard of which the steel breaks down.

With Nitrogen inflation you are pressurizing the tire with almost 97% pure nitrogen which has no water within it, with that small portion of oxygen and inert gas's, therefore in theory allowing your tires to last longer from the normal breakdown from the inside out.

 

Oxygen also degrades rubber, causing it to dry rot. That's another plus for nitrogen. I doesn't degrade rubber and it won't corrode the inside of your wheel like oxygen does. Too bad it will still degrade from the outside oxygen eventually.