Tire age

[wngrr]

I know this subject has been discussed here before but this link was making the rounds at work so I thought I would share. Make sure and check out the end of the report so you know how to check the age of the tires you are buying.

 

David

 

http://abcnews.go.Com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897

[RossKean]

The situation is even worse for motorcycles. The tires are stressed a lot more and with the low mileage put on bikes by many people, it is entirely possible that tires may not be changed for 8-10 years. With the 6 year rule, this would be a problem even if the tires were fresh from the factory when they were installed. (I know lots of people who ride less than 2000 miles per year.) In addition, a tire failure at speed on a motorcycle is much more likely to have a bad outcome than the same failure on a 4-wheel vehicle. For places that have mandatory motorcycle inspections, tire age should, perhaps, be one of the criteria that are examined.

 

I would love to see a scientific study of safety vs tire age. While I believe what they are saying, most of the evidence is anecdotal.

 

Interesting stuff, but I would suspect that there are a lot more tire failures from improper inflation, manufacturer defects, running tires that are excessively worn and road hazards than from age - impartial scientific study shouldn't be too difficult.

 

Ross

[brewser23]

Very good info. Being able to decipher the date code will be helpful on my next tire purchase. Kinda feel sorry for the small garage owner though, who most likely will be stuck with any "new/old" tires. Not sure how the supply process works but I can't really see the manufacturer saying to the garge owner that they would be happy to take back 6-8- 10 yr old tires that he hasn't been able to sell and give him new stock in exchange.

[wngrr]

Ross,

 

I agree with all your comments. My reason for posting this is more for education purposes than anything. As motorcycle riders we are the first line of defence when it comes to tire failures. Inspections and air pressure checks before every ride should always be standard practice. Adding this information to the arsonal is just one more thing we can do to protect ourselves and our loved ones.

 

David

[Sylvester]

I opened the site and it shut down before I got any useful information. Please tell me how to know what the date of the tire is.

 

[RossKean]

The date code appears after the DOT data string. The first 2 numbers give the week and the third (or 3rd and 4th) give the year. 425 is the fourty-second week of 1995. 1204 is the 12th week of 2004. 0210 was made last week. At least this is my interpretation. Seems that 3 digit date codes were used before 2000.

 

Ross