e-man

Hey guys. I need some objective opinions here. When you buy new tires, what do you think is an acceptable date of manufacture for the tires? In other words, would you expect that tires sold as "new" were manufactured within 3 months of the date of purchase? 6 months? 2 years? Please let me know what you think. Thanks in advance.

e

chuckb

about 6 months.? honestly I've never checked to see how old any of my new tires were.

e-man

Thanks Chuck. Does anyone else have any thoughts? I don't want to explain my situation before I get a few more opinions from other CL members. Thanks.

e

sung35

I am wonder whether any one does check the manufacture date on the new tires.

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

I think within a year or two or even longer should be ok as long as the tires were stored properly. What I mean by properly is in a dry place that's not in direct exposure of the sun. Now if the tires were sitting outside in the sun or in a window display where the sunlight hits it every single day...then I wouldn't want those tires after a year or two.

e-man

Thanks Jeff.

Okay, here's the deal. I purchased a "new" set of tires from an online retail tire dealer. I haven't put them on the car yet. I was looking at them today and noticed the date codes were 4506, 4606, 4806 and 4806, so they were all manufactured sometime in November of 2006.

Here's my opinion. Even if the tires were stored in a cool dry climate-controlled area, I feel that the information should have been disclosed prior to the purchase. If the person taking my order had told me that they would be sending me tires that were manufactured a year ago, I would have said thanks but no thanks and taken my business elsewhere. I just assumed that since I was buying "new" tires, they were manufactured sometime recently (maybe within the past 3-6 months).

Does anyone else have anything else to add?

BCP43002

I would have thought within 4 - 6 months. I just checked mine and I see 3506 which puts them in Aug of 06. I believe we both purchased the 3ds correct?

e-man

3506 would mean that yours were manufactured in the 35th week of 2006, which, if my calculations are correct, would put you at the end of the third quarter, or somewhere towards the end of September, 2006. Unfortunately, yours are even older than mine. I find this completely unacceptable. I plan on making a call tomorrow.

Anyone else?

BCP43002

E-man read the Tire Aging article attached http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...currentpage=11 Interesting. Hmmmmmm.....

e-man

That is interesting.

Here's my point. If a consumer is buying a "new" tire, I think it's reasonable for the consumer to expect that the tire was manufactured sometime in the last 3-6 months. And, if the tire was not manufactured in the past 6 months, and particularly if the date of manufacture is over a year before the date of purchase, it should be disclosed to the consumer prior to purchase. Had it been disclosed to me, I would not have purchased the tires. It's just that simple. The seller will most likely take the position that if the tires are stored in a climate controlled environment, the date of manufacture is to some extent irrelevant. That may be, however, the fact remains that had the date of manufacture been disclosed to me prior to purchase, I would have taken a pass.

e

BCP43002

I just checked the date on my son's tires that he recently purchased from a different online store. They were Falken Ziexs with 0307 date code. I believe these may be a newer model then the 3ds.

e-man

Okay, so those were manufactured in late January, 2007.

For what it's worth, my neighbor just bought a set of Continental tires from the same online store where we purchased our 3Ds. The date code on all 4 tires is 4007 (manufactured in late October, 2007).

genebelor

got 0305 date code on my newly purchased tires from discounttiredirect.com. anyone used the same company to purchase tires?

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

Nothing wrong with tires stored up to two years (or more, but two years I would deem acceptable), so long as they are stored properly, as mentioned above. Out of the sun, out of the elements, should be no problem...

Tires are built in a production run - a manufacturer will build thousands of a size and model of a tire at a time, and if it takes some time to sell all of them, they can be in the manufacturers warehouse for 3-6 months, a distributors warehouse for 3-6 months... Expecting a tire that is within 3 months old, unless you are buying a tire that is a high movement tire (popular size, popular model), then you may be asking for too much...

I deal with this stuff on a daily basis - and I would have no problems putting a tire that sat for storage for two years on my own car... I'd consider more, but any more than the two years, I better be getting a good price...

e-man

That makes sense, a lot of sense. Two points, though. First, when buying online, you have no way of knowing the date of manufacture until the tires are delivered, and at that point, you've already made the purchase. I suppose the same could be said for buying locally, but at least in that situation, you might have the opportunity to inspect the tires prior to purchase. Second, assuming the tires are 1-2 years old (or more), you have no way of knowing how the tires were stored and whether they were kept out of the elements. This second point holds true no matter who you buy from (i.e., online or a local shop). However, if you buy tires that were manufactured more recently, you take that element out of the equation. Just some additional food for thought . . .

e