Quick and Easy Ways to Tell the Age of a Tire

Posted on the 11 July 2023 by A2v

How to tell the age of a tire? Do you know how old is your tire? How long do car tires last? Is there any way to determine the expiration of the tire? Tire manufacturing date plays an important factor in knowing the tire expiration, and whether the tire is still safe to use or not. Look at the tire manufacturing date this is how to tell the age of a tire using the code located on the sidewall of the tire.

How to tell the age of a tire

From the tire manufacturing date or tire production date, you can decide whether the tire is still safe to use. When buying a tire, look at this date because one may never know how long the tire has been on the shelf, it might be sitting there for a long period and the tire quality is already deteriorated because of several factors that affect the tires.

How long do car tires last

According to Japan Tire Manufacturing Association (JTMA), the tire will expire 10 years after the manufacturing date, meaning if the tire is not been used for that longer period the tire is not safe to use, and should not be used. But if the tire has already been used or is put into service after the manufacturing date, then it should only be put into service for about 6 years. The tire that has been used by the car for more than 6 years from the start of the manufacturing date must be replaced.

However, according to the tire and rubber manufacturer, it is very hard to predict tire expiration because of too many factors that affect the aging of the tire.

How how to check the tire manufacturing date

You can tell the age of the tire by looking at the manufacturing date, it is a code located on the sidewall of the tire.

In the above example the tire manufacturing date is 3416 this means the tire was manufactured on the 34th week of 2016 wherein the 34th week of the year is in August, it also means that the tire was manufactured in August 2016. So, if the tire is put to service after the manufacturing date it should only be put to use until August 2022. What does this mean? It means you can now tell if the tire you are buying is an old stock tire or a newly manufactured tire, it means also that you can estimate the date when the tire was installed on your car if it corresponds to your car year model.
However, if the tire did not put into service after the manufacturing date, the tire must not be put into use beyond August 2032. The tire manufacturing date was stamped on the sidewall of the tire. When you look closer at the tire sidewall it can easily be spotted, it's the last 4 digit number of the 8-character code as shown in the above illustration.
How to Choose the Right Tires for Your Car How to tell the age of a tire? The manufacturing date will tell you the new from an old tire. The old tire is not safe to use, Be sure it's unique. Read more: How to Choose the Right Tires for Your Car


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