Tire aging issues - safety

[Doc Dave]

Very interesting, From the NTSB
This article refers to radials. It appears it is especially pertinent with vehicles running highway speeds, especially in areas with hot weather, but not always.
I have some 6 year old tires on my gooseneck I am concerned about. Also my Cummins Dodge truck I use to tow has an "old" spare.

http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/Docu...el_4b_Kane.pdf

[Matthew Welcher PWA]

I know I am as guilty as anyone, You check your pressure. Look for problems or bulges in the tire. If all seems well you keep running them. especially on the vehicles and or equipment that sits much more than its driven.

[Doc Dave]

Me too,
I just bought some NOS radial michelins that are about 8 1/2 years old for the M37 project. I will run tubes of course with the Budd wheels.
I think the next time my Dodge CTD needs tires I will also get a new spare due to this issue.

[DavidGB]

Date Code

I believe tires are supposed to have date codes on them. Can anyone describe a typical location and format for these?
David

[712edf]

On one of the sidewalls, near the "DOT" stamping.

The date isn't raised, but stamped into the sidewall.

On tires made after 2000, the last 4 digits of the code are "WWYY", meaning the first 2 digits are the week, last 2 digits are the year.

Example 3907 would denote 39th week of 2007.
1814 would denote 18th week of 2014.

Pre 2000 tires used a 3 digit code "WWY", meaning week & last digit of the year.

Example 278 would mean the 27th week of either 1978,1988 or 1998

Bucky

[DavidGB]

Excellent. Thank you.
David

[Alxj64]

I think common sense and attentiveness goes a long way in this matter. The essential "best before" date on tires is much similar to food. Sure, some grades are going to go bad and expire long before others. Sunlight, humidity, and temperature changes are all going to have affects on the tire decay along with the particular grade of rubber which also I am sure varies batch to batch even with Mfgs. I ate a can of beans the other day that was 1 year past its "best before" date... Didn't die either!