How do you tell a tyres age?

[Elroy Blue]

I'm looking at a couple of premium brand tyres on e-bay. Brand new, but considerably below retail price. Is it possible to tell when they were remanufactured. I wouldn't want to buy something that was ancient.

[marksx]

There should be a code on the side that has the week and year of manufacture.

US DOT code:

http://www.justtyres.com/car-tyre-sidewall-marking...

[MEATANDCHEESE]

Elroy Blue said:

I wouldn't want to buy something that was ancient.

I once bought Brand New Pirelli P Zeros on Ebay and didn't think to check the date until they arrived.

My "Brand New" Tyres with labels attached were infact 5 years old!!!! (Yes they were relatively cheap!)

[Elroy Blue]

Oddly enough, these are Pirelli P Zeros

[Elroy Blue]

marksx said:

There should be a code on the side that has the week and year of manufacture.

US DOT code:

http://www.justtyres.com/car-tyre-sidewall-marking...

Thanks for that. So witout wishing to sound like a numpty, 1800 would be week 18, year 2000.

[jimbobsimmonds]

Please forgive the ignorance but how long does the rubber (is it "real" rubber now) take to degrade or is that an urban myth with the new premium stuff?

[Bluebarge]

Elroy Blue said:

Thanks for that. So witout wishing to sound like a numpty, 1800 would be week 18, year 2000.

Yes

[Bluebarge]

jimbobsimmonds said:

Please forgive the ignorance but how long does the rubber (is it "real" rubber now) take to degrade or is that an urban myth with the new premium stuff?

Depends on how its been stored - exposure to uv etc will age it quite rapidly. A 5 year old tyre should be pretty much unsaleable as "new" and a 6 year old tyre should be regarded as near the end of its life.

[McSam]

Bluebarge said:

Depends on how its been stored - exposure to uv etc will age it quite rapidly. A 5 year old tyre should be pretty much unsaleable as "new" and a 6 year old tyre should be regarded as near the end of its life.

Yep, six years is the standard maximum working life for modern tyres.