Tire dates my gripe

egdeaile said:

I just wanted to make sure I understand something correctly. I thought the replacing a tire due to age along had mostly to do with UV damage done by exposure to sun over the years. So, if the tire sat in a warehouse (therefore NOT in the suN), I imagine they would be all right.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Also, all warranties have to be from the date of purchase. There are laws regulating this at least in my home state of CT. I imagine similar laws exist elsewhere.

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UV can cause damage but Ozone is the big culprit in tire aging. My MH is storred indoors most of the time but I weld and use my plasma cutter in the same building both of which create a lot of Ozone. This is the main reason I get new tires before they are 7 years old. Like I said before I bet my tires are for sale some where they looked so good.

Original purchaser on a new coach is the manufacturer. I am the original purchaser on my new tires. That is where goodyear is going to try to use the DOT stamp as the warranty start date on a new coach.

wayne

Papadoc,

Thanks for posting the link, interesting reading but I didn't find a formula there for calculating how long a tire is good for after being stored for a number of years.  Did I miss something?

Rolf, consider the tire age as starting from the manufacturing date.  Storage is in some ways worse than if it were in service and may actually shorten the useful life.

Ned, that may very well be true and I agree with that.  But exactlly how does one quantify the remaining service life of a tire that has sat on a shelf for X amount of time?  If a dealer puts 'new' tires on my RV that are not 'fresh' from the date of manufacture, how do I determine the amount of discount I should receive for not receiving 'fresh' tires?  I am just looking for the formula that tells me that a tire that has been shelved for 4 years only has 3 remaining years of service life yet.  How was this result obtained and how can I calculate it for other dates?

rsalhus said:

Ned, that may very well be true and I agree with that.  But exactlly how does one quantify the remaining service life of a tire that has sat on a shelf for X amount of time?  If a dealer puts 'new' tires on my RV that are not 'fresh' from the date of manufacture, how do I determine the amount of discount I should receive for not receiving 'fresh' tires?  I am just looking for the formula that tells me that a tire that has been shelved for 4 years only has 3 remaining years of service life yet.  How was this result obtained and how can I calculate it for other dates?

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How about 7 year maximum life with replacement of all units upon first unit failure over 5 years?

What a quagmire. It's like walking on Jello... :

  I bought my (used) RV in 2004. New tires were installed in 2003.. Date code on tires is 2002.

  I believe all the wisdom on tire age and tire life discussed on the forum. Now... my tires are essentially 6 years old. Should I take preventive action now or gamble a bit?

  I am a light duty traveler; I have a spare wheel/tire (heavens knows how old it is). I think I will discontinue lugging it around. My thought  right now is to carry on until I get a blow-out, get my RV plan to get me out of that mess and then decide what to do. If my thought is wrong, when do I bite the bullet and say bye-bye to all my tires?

  This is what I believe goes thru everyone's mind. It's like buying insurance; probably the best explanation.

  Safety first, comes to mind.

carson FL


 

I would not wait until I blow a tire.  Your life, the life of your family and the public is at risk.

I would sure try and bite the bullet soon.  No accident in my future because I was not proactive.

carson said:

What a quagmire. It's like walking on Jello... :

   I bought my (used) RV in 2004. New tires were installed in 2003.. Date code on tires is 2002.

   I believe all the wisdom on tire age and tire life discussed on the forum. Now... my tires are essentially 6 years old. Should I take preventive action now or gamble a bit?

   I am a light duty traveler; I have a spare wheel/tire (heavens knows how old it is). I think I will discontinue lugging it around. My thought  right now is to carry on until I get a blow-out, get my RV plan to get me out of that mess and then decide what to do. If my thought is wrong, when do I bite the bullet and say bye-bye to all my tires?

   This is what I believe goes thru everyone's mind. It's like buying insurance; probably the best explanation.

   Safety first, comes to mind.

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You have a set of tires that have used up 6/7s, 86%, of their safe operating life.  Would you drive on bald tires?  No?  Then why drive on rotting tires.    You know that the tires will go at 65 mph on some no-shoulder two lane mountain road 85 miles west of South Dogsquat, MT -- at 5 pm.  In a rainstorm. 

I like the way you put that, Carl, and I agree. I guess I was thinking of folks that don't agree with that wisdom. Just call me a "Weisenheimer".  ;D

carson FL

carson said:

What a quagmire. It's like walking on Jello... :

   I bought my (used) RV in 2004. New tires were installed in 2003.. Date code on tires is 2002.

   I believe all the wisdom on tire age and tire life discussed on the forum. Now... my tires are essentially 6 years old. Should I take preventive action now or gamble a bit?

   I am a light duty traveler; I have a spare wheel/tire (heavens knows how old it is). I think I will discontinue lugging it around. My thought  right now is to carry on until I get a blow-out, get my RV plan to get me out of that mess and then decide what to do. If my thought is wrong, when do I bite the bullet and say bye-bye to all my tires?

   This is what I believe goes thru everyone's mind. It's like buying insurance; probably the best explanation.

   Safety first, comes to mind.

carson FL


   

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If you have ever seen the damage and blown tire can do to a coach by the time you get to the side of the road. You will agree a blow out is not worth the risk. I consider new tires every 5 to 6 years cheap insurance. Not to mention the saftey factor of the same said blow out.

wayne

I know it has been said some where as to HOW the 5 to 7 years date was determined but I can not seem to find it right now. Just checked the tires on the RV I just bought this summer. they have a 3 digit date code !! yep looks like they were made in 1995. still look real good too! then I checked the race car which I drive on the street too. and yep the rubber under it was made in 1985. yep living on the edge!! the "race car" has been running this rubber for a couple of years and I have had it sideways many times. the tires on it are getting a bit "hard" and the traction is not there as it used to be when the tires were new. may HAVE to get new "sticky" tires for the race car in the spring

Just looking at the title of this thread and I have a gripe too.  Since DOT requires a date code on the tires, I don't see why DOT couldn't have required the actual date, instead of a code.  Why should we be required to look up a code that gives us the information we are looking for?  Just give us the information right on the tire!

Factories dont make a certain size tire every day, probably not even every month.  More like every 6 months and when they do, they make thousands based on current orders, projected demands etc and they wont build them again until a factory run has been scheduled and those runs are scheduled by how many tires they expect to sell, if orders dont come in for those tires or projected sales are down, they will cancel that run and make a size that is in demand until the supply has demiinished.  If factory warehouses are shipping year old tires, the supply has not been exhusted yet and the factory has probably not made any more.

I am not defending this..........but its how it is.......and now with reduced new rv sales, the tires that were built for those slots.....they are not going there so there will be a larger back up with older tires sitting in the tire manufactures warehouse that must be sold before they make more.

It's not a code as such.  It's the 2 digit week and 1 or 2 digit year of manufacture.  1 digit before 2000 and 2 digits after for the year.