Choose Safer Tires Based on Tire ID Numbers [MUST READ]
Purchasing new tires would seem like a straightforward proposition. If it looks brand new, smells brand new, has a factory sticker on it, and no signs of wear and tear, it is brand new and perfectly safe, right? Unfortunately there is more to something as simple-looking as a tire than the average consumer has been lead to believe. Tires have a shelf life and gambling with that shelf life can mean gambling with your safety.
Many manufactures don't advertise the fact that tires have a shelf life, and that even a brand new tire that has never seen the mean streets can expire before it's time. Paul Michael over at the financial blog Wise Bread has written an excellent overview of how you can protect yourself against putting dangerously old tires on your car.
When it comes to determining the age of a tire, it is easy to identify when a tire was manufactured by reading its Tire Identification Number (often referred to as the tire's serial number). Unlike vehicle identification numbers (VINs) and the serial numbers used on many other consumer goods (which identify one specific item), Tire Identification Numbers are really batch codes that identify the week and year the tire was produced.
Although in many other countries there are restrictions on selling older tires, in the United States there is no restriction. A retailer in the U.S. could sell you a 15-year-old set of tires if it looked new enough to convince you to pay for it, all the while knowing that the tire could well be dry rotted or degraded due to its advanced age. Stamped into the side wall of every tire is the date of manufacture, Paul covers the various incarnations of this date stamp and how to read it. Armed with the ability to read the Tire ID Numbers the next time you go to purchase tires you'll be able to determine how old the tires are and ensure that you end up with a newly manufactured and safe set of tires.
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