tajdog

This actually happened: Bought set of new Michelins in early 80's from friend who had a friend in the business. Saved some $, but not a ton. Tires were brand new and looked great. A few months later, wife calls me from rest area on I-85 near our home. In tears, she tells me the driver's side rear tire had disintegrated. She was positive she had not hit any debris, etc. She was right. Turns out those "new tires" were over seven years old. Hate to think what may have happened had it been one of front tires. I always thought it was because I got a "deal" and the guy was just unloading old mercandise.

NOT SO! Saw piece on one of the tv newsmagazines that this is happening routinely and all over the place. Sears and other major retailers are selling as new, tires that are as old as a dozen years. Lots of times the tech who's selling and installing the tires is not even aware the tires he got delivered a couple of months ago had sat in a warehouse for six or eight years. Or more.

Look on your tires. There are three sets (usually) of four numbers immediately following the letters DOT. Like this: DOT XXXX XXXX XXXX. This is required by law.

The LAST set will tell you the week of manufacture and the year. For instance, tires manufactured in the last week of January or the first week of February in the year 2000, will read: 0500, that's the fifth week of the year 2000. I checked a co-workers tires yesterday that he swore were brand new and he was stunned to learn they were manufactured in January 05, as his code numbers read 0205. That's still OK, as tire industry claims tires up to six years old are safe to buy. Well, I don't think so. If a set of tires lasts me four years and they're six years old when I buy them, I am eventually driving on ten years old tires. I won't buy tires more than two years old and neither should you.

Check your tires. Check them today. Check them now. I don't care when you bought them. This has KILLED people. Really.

Brandon@TR

"This has KILLED people."

Really? I wasn't aware of any fatalities related to this issue. I would like to see some proof of this claim. In my opinion the piece by 20/20 was a crock. I mean c'mon they were showing truck tire retreads on the side of the road implying these were from tires with an older DOT code. They used the word "cryptic" when refering to the code several times, you don't exactly have to be a rocket scientist to read the thing. 20/20 did a good job of sensationalizing a non issue in my opinion. Tires aren't milk, checking your inflation pressure is a WAY more important and potentially dangerous problem.

SoCalSC4

I agree with Brandon; most tire failures are caused by underinflation,
causing the tire carcass to overheat and fail.

I see cars & SUVs with visibly soft tires daily. Most of my cars have low
profile tires on them and I agree that it is difficult to tell when they are
a couple of pounds low- that's why they should be checked AT LEAST
on a weekly basis. Most people basically never check their tire pressures!

Recently I purchased a new Honda Odyssey... as opposed to the low profile
tires I am used to seeing on my other cars, the stock "buffalo" tires always
look half-flat to me... sort of freaks me out!

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

I concur.

A tire that has truly been driven for 5 years is a lot more dangerous in terms of dry rot and weather cracking than a tire thats been in controlled storage for even 7-10 years...

Personally, my limit, as a service manager that sells tires, is three years. Longer than that, and you may not really get a proper life span out of the tire, and I would feel like you were getting cheated, less than that, and you are fine... I, too, would like a report of any deaths that were a direct relation to this.

And as far as cryptic, um, that information has been around since the beginning of tire date coding, and its very easy to read.

Here's the problem with things like 20/20's report. It could cost tire manufacturers more - which in turn makes the end consumer prices higher. As it stands currently, at our location, at least, and at past companies I've worked for, anything with a DOT date of three years old is given a clearance price, with full disclosure up front.

I do, fully believe, anything much older than three years is wrong to sell, unless the customer knows what they are buying, but is not dangerous in any way, so long as it has been stored correctly.

tajdog

Well, Brandon, I guess you got me there. I retract my statement that old tires sold as new have killed people. It implies that I know things first hand that I actually don't. I do not personally know of anyone that has happened to, and therefore I have no proof. Sean Kane, of Safety Research & Strategies, claims to have proof. His private research firm has tracked, so far, 167 crashes it attributes to aged tires, with 192 injuries and 139 deaths. I don't know how many of the aged tires were also underinflated, maybe all of them. I don't know how many of the drivers were drunk or asleep, maybe all of them. I also don't know whether he is correct in his research and evaluation of the data. See for yourself:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=4844406&page=1
Or just google 20/20 and click away.

I agree with you about the truck tire debris. That's what it looked like to me, too. A really cheesy shot. A lot of the logging trucks in NC don't even bother to run retreads. They are famous around these parts for tires as bald as Uncle Fudd's head. I also agree with you "20/20 did a good job of sensationalizing". After all, that's their job, to sell the news. Just as yours is to sell the tires. And mine to sell the food. Also on proper inflation. I check mine routinely. Yes, I have a guage in my garage(actually,two). Not really for safety, but for money. Properly inflated tires save lots of gas dollars. George Will in Newsweek said the same amount of fossil fuel savings(about 4%) could be accomplished by either diverting our entire corn crop to ethanol or everyone in the US properly inflating their tires. I know this because SOMEBODY TOLD ME!!! You see, I been promoted. I used to be a cheap bastard. Now, I am environmentally correct!

Oh, and, c'mon, Brandon. We're the public, for crike's sake. Of course we're not rocket scientists. We're trusting widdle sheeps, for the most part. And not only do we not know how to read a simple code, we're not even gonna know it exists, unless SOMEBODY TELLS US.

mitsuguy, you say "a tire truly driven for 5 years is a lot more dangerous" than a tire that has been in controlled storage for even 7-10 years. I'm not real sure I agree with the "lot more" part, but I do agree a tire "truly driven" for five years is not truly safe and should be replaced. How do I know a tire that is 7 years old has been properly stored? Most of the warehouses I've been in and seen (agreed, it is not a lot) were not controlled past the point of just being locked. Temperature and humidity inside were pretty much what was outside. Keeping tires at a comfortable temp and humidity for 7 years, seems to me, would surely make "end consumer prices higher". Heatin 'n air be right 'spensive in these parts.

I like very much what you say about your limit being three years and then it is clearanced priced and you tell the customer up front. That's fair and honest. It would seem, from news reports, the "tire guy" at Wal-mart is not so informed as you; or as caring about doing the right thing and giving good value for the life of the tire. You see, I believe the marketplace would take care of this if we, the public, weren't so trusting, and were better informed.

I've got a life. I own my own business. I am selfmade. I employ 20-24 people. I am college educated. I know nine-dollar words. I listen to NPR. I do not think I'm a trivial man(anymore so than we all are). But I did not know about the "old" tires being sold as "new". I trusted people who "knew" the tire business. Since then, I've done business with "pros", like mitsuguy. Live and learn. So far, I've lived, not real sure I got that learning part down, yet.

Hey, you guys can put your wives and sons and daughters in cars with 8 years old tires, if you want to. Heck, put 'em in cars with 15 years old tires if you wanna. Just ask 'em to stay away from me on the highway. Just in case.

Obviously, neither of you guys have ever had a phone call from a loved one that is really, really shook up because one of the "new" tires you put on her car damned near killed her. And I assure you, without question, no chance in the world I'm mistaken, absolutely, positively, THAT TIRE WAS NOT UNDERINFLATED. IT WAS OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!

ISF_GG

iTrader: (2)

Whoever is right in this discussion, it is still interesting to know. I'm going to go out and take a look at my tires, just to see what decade/year/month they were made in.

SH212

my two front tires dont say it, but my back are 47 05 and 41 05

link13

I certainly don't want to be killed.

Brandon@TR

Here is a good link with some information about tire life on the shelf...

http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=DZ1&...jsp&techid=138

We have had this information on our site for 4ish years by the way.

J.Chimpo

If you cant read it on your front tires it will be on the other side of the tire (the inside side wall) Tire co. only put the full code on one side of the tire.

ISF_GG

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the interesting link.

ISF_GG

iTrader: (2)

Tires that have been stored for 4-6 years by any tire retailer before being sold, are extremely undesirable IMO.
I looked at my 20" tires and the # was 2906. So they were made in the 29th week of 2006. I'm OK with that.

raytseng

My opinion is that while it's important to watch out for your tires. there's also a bit of sensationalism, and there's plenty of other issues that will get you killed and for you to worry about.

Regarding the article:

How does the "aged" tires statistics compare to straight up worn out tires? I'd suspect there's more accidents that can be attributed to worn out tires then "aged" ones, but it's less sensational a topic since the blame for worn out tires is the fault of the car owner; rather then a poor consumer getting scammed yet again by a heartless corporation or big business, and only good old 20/20 is looking out for you.

Or to take it from the other perspective, think about how tires typically are going to fail? Chances are high that the failure is going to be due to a road hazard. If one truely is worried about tire failures, you should be equally worried about all the junk you run over regularly that might puncture the tire and kill you that way, and demand that all roads be street cleaned every hour.

Additionally, I would suspect if the tires are checked regularly the problems would've been noticed, I doubt it's a hidden danger that isn't noticeable. I'd guess you'd see sidewall cracking or bulging or separation or other things, not something that just occurs all of a sudden and your tire explodes and you die in a fire.
Any self respecting shop (where a proper car owner would complete tire rotation maintenance) would take the opportunity to check the condition of the tires not just as a safety precaution but also as a business opportunity to upsell some new tires.

So the people who would be the target of the message are the same people who don't pay any attention to their tires or have them looked at by compentent people anyway.

There's only point of the article in bringing up the point that the NHTSA isn't making a press statement to "warn" a set of consumers is just to make them out to be a bad guy for something a responsible car owner (who get's their car serviced) should be doing anyway. I'd rather the NHTSA attack some other top issues killing more poeple rather then this obscure one and not waste their time and our tax money on this B.S. (e.g. look at the balljoints failures in the 2GS forum for example).

This is just like Just like Shark Attack week or Killer Bees Lyme Disease or Bear Patrol(for those of you in Springfield, NT; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Much_Apu_About_Nothing).

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

o goodness, thetires on the benz are still from 1991, but they have good tread i guess thinmgs like this are ok as long as the consumer knows what they are buying and know what may happen if they are willing to pay a lot less

tajdog

Thanks. Very much like that you guys rotate your stock & most all your wares are less than two years old. That's the way it should be.

The "Japanese Automobile Tire Manufacture Association" report issued May,2005. Hmmmm, would be more 3ish than 4ish. OMG, when I find stuff like that funny, maybe I do need to get a life!!

Also, Brandon, my cynical self had bit of a hard time reconciling 20/20's video of "professional drivers", who knew the front tire was about to disintergrate, not being able to keep cars on the road, with the CNN live coverage of the car chase with the perp going 80mph on the rim & throwing sparks after hitting the stop strips and still motoring down the expressway with 41 black & whites in hot pursuit. Maybe it was the outriggers. Even 'tho tire safety's no laughing matter---lol.

Raytseng, your highways really that trashy in Cali.? Better call the govenator.