Recently I had a complete and inexplicable lack of reason. Lost my mind, and bought a used set of tires. Don't have a clue as to what I was thinking other than trying to save a couple dollars. The tread was beautiful, they were practically new tread wise... and I got sucked in and laid down $400 on a set of four Goodyear Wrangler HT's. Again, I can't explain it.

To make sure everyone knows, tires have a manufacturing date stamped on the tire as required by various agencies, DOT, NTSB, NHTSBA. This date is effectively a "born on date" and all tires, ALL TIRES, perhaps I should qualify this as ALL RADIAL TIRES, I don't know -- have a useful life of 6 years. That is 6 years period. Doesn't matter if they were in a nitrogen filled refrigerator for six years, on a shelf for six years, stored by the manufacturer or retailer for six years -- after six years, they are no longer safe to drive on and should not be in service or put into service even if they "look" great.

This is because rubber deteriorates with time. Much like the rubber band you pull off the newspaper it stretches and doesn't break. A week later you stretch it... and it breaks. Rubber dries out.

Age is only one factor in rubber deteriorating. Environment and use are other factors. Another way to determine if the rubber of any tire is deteriorating is dry rot, cracking, and checking. This requires taking the time to do a close visual inspection of the tire. Any tire that exhibits these telltale signs should be removed from service no matter how good it looks with Armor All smeared all over it.

The date of manufacture on a tire is stamped as a series of letters and numbers. Beginning with "DOT". For example, the tire will have DOT XXXX 3506 stamped on it. The last four or three digits of the code are the manufacturing date. In this example the manufacturing date is the 35th week of 2006. All tires manufactured prior to the year 2000 used a three digit code. For example, DOT XXXX 429. Here, the tire was manufactured the 42nd week of 1999.

Two of the tires I was sold were manufactured in 1999. Unbelievable. Not only was I ripped off, they tried to kill me or someone else on the road. Not only that, upon close inspection, all the tires exhibited the telltale signs of deterioration. They never should have been sold or put on my truck. Evidently the thought of making a six year old child a quadriplegic bothers them not one bit when it comes to making a dollar.

So, check your tires. Be very, very careful if you ever buy used tire. For a spare or otherwise. I did get my money back after two days of fighting. But I consider myself fortunate. The tires in question? They will be sold to someone else most likely. I had a new set of BFG Commercial T/A's put on, will let you know how I like them.

 

Used tires are just like used cows; they are for sale for a reason.

The very first thing I look at on any used tire is that date-code.

Be aware that there are many old tires out there that pre-date even the required date-code ( it started in the early 90s or so ); most of them have DOT numbers that end in a 3-digit grouping, rather than the 4-digit date-code.


Also, when I scrutinize a used tire, I look at it with the attitude that I "hope" I can find some reason to cull it; I study every little detail; never turn a blind-eye to a potential problem just because you hope they will be okay --- it seldom turns out that way.

If one passes my inspection, it is probably a decent tire and road-ready.


No way would I give $100-apiece for even an almost-new used tire.



As for the life-span of a radial, it has more to do with the adhesive failing that glues the steel-belts to the other layers inside the casing.

Also, that dry-rot you speak of speeds this process.

Little cracks develop that allow water and other chemicals to permeate into the steel layer, rusting the steel and deteriorating the adhesive.

BIAS tires are immune from that situation.

 

All tires manufactured prior to the year 2000 have the three digit date code if they have a code. Tax, plus 4 mounts and balances, plus the tires, $392 and some change. As for everything you said, good for you.

 

So all these decades I've been rolling on borrowed time. Whoda thunk it.
I recently had a set of Copper tires "dry rot" in a lot less than their 6 year life span.
I replaced them with a set of Commercial T/As. Good all round tires. I think you'll like them.

 

Wow and for the last 20 some yr's I have bought used Military hummer tires and out of all the tires I've ever bought I've lost 2 tires 1 to a blow out n 1 when the rim had a crack in it guess i'm lucky never even looked at the date codes and once I get my crewcab on the road I'm going back to same tires .Maybe out in Calif w here it's drier then most of country we have less troubles with blowout's ????

 

All the used military "Hummer" tires I have ever seen are always Goodyear Wrangler BIAS 16.5s, NOT radials --- unless there is something I have yet to see.

Age does not hurt a bias as it does a radial.

 

My very first set was Bias and after that I never went backward's the 36's are the mt bias tires the 37's are a AT Radial never had a issue with date codes but they also have a UV coating on the tires that help's with weather checking

 

Going to have to try some bias ply tires someday....

 

The tires on my car trailer fall apart so fast.
Date code can't help when they fall apart with in two years.
I have had the best luck with Michelin tires.
The local Cooper dealer can't stand Michelins because of longevity.
The crap tires need that date code.
You get what you pay for.
Michelins run long time.
Tires should have date code that will tell you the tire will last to that date with tread on it.

 

I've been runing the BFG Commercial T/A's now for about a year...I really like them. I have about 10K miles on them and they are wearing nicely..just rotated them last month and I did a tread depth checkand there was only about 1mm difference between the fronts and rears.

 

Thrashingcows, have any pics? I am interested in these tires.

 

The word on the Commercial T/A's is they wear like iron. Very hard compound, resistant to punctures, sidewall damage, can easily go 70k miles depending. If you do any off road, rocks, but your main driving is highway (98% highway), can air them down to smooth out washboard roads due to their durability, some are lugged for winter studs (mine aren't). Marketed as a money saver for fleet vehicles. With a hundred miles of city driving the little knobies and rubber manufacturing flanges still haven't worn off.

The bad, while advertised as a rain, ice and snow winter highway tire you might need some weight on them to be happy that way. Again, very hard compound. Or can air down a little bit to get some bite in the winter. Not a flashy tire, very small tread foot print comparatively for a 235/85/r16. "Skinny" tread describes them. I have them on 16 x 8 rims and they look positively balloonish. They ride hard comparatively.

 

My last set of T/A's lasted about 20K. But i learned a big lesson on those. Bought them online from Discount tire. What they sent must have been seconds. Looked fine but wore like crazy! now I buy locally, that was my first online tire buy and my last.

 

Ew, not good to hear. Went to a Discount Tire directly, they have a "save the tax" promotion going on now. Took $65 of the total. Free rotations, repairs, balances for life. Tires are guaranteed under warrantee to last 50k? Maybe 40k, have to look at the receipt. Sure hope these last longer than 20K. Had the alignment checked after they were mounted and I don't run that much weight. Just a camper shell. We'll see.

 

I have 215/85/16 bfg comm. ta tires on mine they were put on 7/06 dont know how many miles (odo. dont work,got to fix that sometime) but probably 50,000 or so doing very good will probably get another year out of them.