Do tyres "go off"?

Please Kill Me

When I was out in my dad's yesterday, I mentioned I need to get new tyres for the 7 seater. He asked the size and strolled down to his shed (aka Aladdin's Cave) at the end of the garden. After some banging and swearing, he pulled out 4 brand new *lables still on them* Dunlop SP Sport tyres. He threw them into the boot of the car and said I could have them....gratis! Nice one! The thing is, he said they've been sitting in the shed about 3 or 4 years. Anyway, the point is - do ye reckon they'd be ok to use? Do tyres have a shelf life?

Thanks in advance.

Voodoomelon

4 years is fine in my book. Wouldn't be happy with anything 6 years or older.
Bear in mind that its the year of manufacture you should be looking at, not how long they've been sitting in his shed.

Mycroft H

Please Kill Me wrote: »

When I was out in my dad's yesterday, I mentioned I need to get new tyres for the 7 seater. He asked the size and strolled down to his shed (aka Aladdin's Cave) at the end of the garden. After some banging and swearing, he pulled out 4 brand new *lables still on them* Dunlop SP Sport tyres. He threw them into the boot of the car and said I could have them....gratis! Nice one! The thing is, he said they've been sitting in the shed about 3 or 4 years. Anyway, the point is - do ye reckon they'd be ok to use? Do tyres have a shelf life?

Thanks in advance.

I'd say there fine. Out of the sun and in a cold dark place. I would use them. Watch if there is an E mark on them, its an NCT requirement. If they don't, keep your old ones to swap when the NCT comes around.

homingbird

It is over 6 years for nct fail but if they look allright you will pass with a warning.

slimjimmc

homingbird wrote: »

It is over 6 years for nct fail but if they look allright you will pass with a warning.

It's not a fail.
The NCT will only advise you the tyre is over 6 years old but they cannot fail you simply on the age of the tyres. Age is not a fail item. But they can fail you for no E-mark or dangerously defective tyres regardless of how fresh they look.


Tyres kept in good conditions out of direct sunlight, away from oils, and not squished out of shape should be fine, but check the date of manufacture to make sure the tyres weren't already old when your father got them.

Jimbob 83

So long as they are not in a very very dry area exposed to the elements they will be fine, just give them a look over for cracks and bulges

Please Kill Me

Thanks all. Well, they weren't out in the elements. Nice and dry in the shed. They look brand new (well, they are) but what I mean is that they look fine. There's spider webs covering the treads but that's it.

Nissan doctor

Check the date on the tyres, don't go by how long they were in the shed.

Once over 6 years old(most manufacturers recommendation) the rubber can start to perish, become porous and loose strength. Some tyre suffer worse then others. Cheap tyres and Michelin seem to suffer the most.


Pic of tyre date: In this case 0907 = week 9(march), 2007

Voodoomelon

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Cheap tyres and Michelin seem to suffer the most.

I had a Michelin Pilot Sport on the spare wheel in the boot since 2000, never used. But it was covered in cracks.

Please Kill Me

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Check the date on the tyres, don't go by how long they were in the shed.

Once over 6 years old(most manufacturers recommendation) the rubber can start to perish, become porous and loose strength. Some tyre suffer worse then others. Cheap tyres and Michelin seem to suffer the most.


Pic of tyre date: In this case 0907 = week 9(march), 2007

Cool, I'll have a look at that in the daylight tomorrow. For some reason, the number 0011 is in my head, I thought I saw that somewhere on the tyre. Thanks man.

Nissan doctor

Please Kill Me wrote: »

Cool, I'll have a look at that in the daylight tomorrow. For some reason, the number 0011 is in my head, I thought I saw that somewhere on the tyre. Thanks man.

There are loads of numbers on tyres. There would never be a week 00 though, it would be either 52 or 01. And they couldn't be 11 if they've been there for a few years:P

fabsoul

slimjimmc wrote: »

It's not a fail.
The NCT will only advise you the tyre is over 6 years old but they cannot fail you simply on the age of the tyres. Age is not a fail item. But they can fail you for no E-mark or dangerously defective tyres regardless of how fresh they look.


Tyres kept in good conditions out of direct sunlight, away from oils, and not squished out of shape should be fine, but check the date of manufacture to make sure the tyres weren't already old when your father got them.

slimjimmc what he said

Please Kill Me

Nissan doctor wrote: »

There are loads of numbers on tyres. There would never be a week 00 though, it would be either 52 or 01. And they couldn't be 11 if they've been there for a few years:P

Would it be the other way round though (which I hope I'm just getting mixed up) could it be week 11 in 2000?

Nissan doctor

Please Kill Me wrote: »

Would it be the other way round though (which I hope I'm just getting mixed up) could it be week 11 in 2000?

If it was 1100 then yes it could, although the dating stamps on tyres were only coming in around then so not all tyres would have them.

Cork boy 55

I have a few tyres in storage out the back 3X wrapped in plastic for at least 6 years
maybe 8.
Should I just dump them or what.
They look perfect.

I cannot make out which number is the date i see a 006 CIB ???
any tips

Matt Simis

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

I have a few tyres in storage out the back 3X wrapped in plastic for at least 6 years
maybe 8.
Should I just dump them or what.
They look perfect.

I cannot make out which number is the date i see a 006 CIB ???
any tips

Usually it says: DOT "some crap here" then (0124)
006 CIB could be anything, but not the date.

Look at: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

Cork boy 55

Matt Simis wrote: »

Usually it says: DOT "some crap here" then (0124)
006 CIB could be anything, but not the date.

Look at: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

Ta
Going by that link

there is a number on string

DOT FITA EA7X3800
Does that mean the date is

38 week in 2000

These tyres came as a freebie with a car some time ago and I don't know the history /mileage

They could be 6-12 years old

The other numbers on tyre are

E2287523

HQ1114 06 4650-01

Cork boy 55

bump

Can anyone confirm the age of these tyres please ?
tha

Nissan doctor

That doesn't look like the date in the context of the rest of the numbers(dot code etc)

The date is normally seperate to the DOT code.

If the tyres are older then 00/01 then they won't always have a date on them.

Matt Simis

Nissan doctor wrote: »

That doesn't look like the date in the context of the rest of the numbers(dot code etc)

The date is normally seperate to the DOT code.

If the tyres are older then 00/01 then they won't always have a date on them.

DOT FITA EA7X3800
I think that is the date as the format is the same as this:


DOT [4 characters] [4 characters]+DATE
DOT FITA EA7X3800


Also:

DOT

The "DOT" marking indicates that the tire meets or exceeds the U.S. Department of Transportation's safety standard for tires.
Manufacturer Plant Code - "CC"

The first two letters following the DOT marking are codes to identify the manufacturer of the tire and the manufacturing plant.
Tire Size - "9L"

The third and fourth characters following the DOT marking are codes representing the tire size.
Brand Characteristics - "YYY

The final three or four letters are codes representing other significant characteristics of the tire as determined by the manufacturer.
Manufacture Week - "11"

The first pair of digits identifies the week the tire was manufactured. In this case, the tire was manufactured in the 11th week. The number 01 would indicate the first week of January, whereas the number 52 would indicate the last week of December.
Manufacture Year - "05"

The second pair of digits identifies the year that the tire was manufactured, in this case 2005.

101sean

There's been rumblings from some parts of the EU for years of a 10 year rule on age of tyres in testing :rolleyes:

I was given brand new NATO pattern tyres for the 101 by BAe a few years ago, they lasted less than 4 years, the sidewalls cracked badly as they were very old stock. I now have tyres that are dated mid 90's that the sidewalls are also showing signs of cracking, they are a size only the military use and to replace them is going to set me back around €1000!

up-the-dubs

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

Ta
Going by that link

there is a number on string

DOT FITA EA7X3800
Does that mean the date is

38 week in 2000

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

bump

Can anyone confirm the age of these tyres please ?
tha

That is indeed the date.

12 years old is a bit much to fit to a car. Granted the NCT won't fail them but that's no guarantee of anything. Sun and general weather/use will perish tyres. Storing them properly will reduce that effect. However, that's not the only concern here. Rubber degrades in time. While they may not be visibly cracked or perished they will have 'dried out' so that they are nearer solid plastic than supple rubber. The level of grip they'll give you will be dramatically less so than that of new rubber. You'll probably not notice in the dry but hit the brakes in the wet and you'll discover a whole new world of imminent disaster!

Nissan doctor wrote: »

That doesn't look like the date in the context of the rest of the numbers(dot code etc)

The date is normally seperate to the DOT code.

If the tyres are older then 00/01 then they won't always have a date on them.

This is not true I'm afraid. The date codes came in during the early 90's. If you ever see a 90's dated tyre the date code only has 3 digits but is followed by a little triangle pointing to the left:

(Took a few minutes to google a pic!)

Nissan doctor

up-the-dubs wrote: »

This is not true I'm afraid. The date codes came in during the early 90's. If you ever see a 90's dated tyre the date code only has 3 digits but is followed by a little triangle pointing to the left:

(Took a few minutes to google a pic!)

I said they won't always have the date. The dates came on stream during the 90's but they became mandatory in the early 00's.

up-the-dubs

Nissan doctor wrote: »

I said they won't always have the date. The dates came on stream during the 90's but they became mandatory in the early 00's.

My bad. Mis-read your post a little!

Thankfully I've yet to see a tyre without a date on them! Most manufacturers seem to have dates on them for quite a while.

Cork boy 55

What age would these tyres be please?

DOT JEFH OVP
DOT OU

Matt Simis

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

What age would these tyres be please?

DOT JEFH OVP
DOT OU

Seriously? Do you see any numbers there? Looking as the post dates.. were you driving around for the last 8mths on your 12year old tyres!?
Just go get new or in-date Part Worns with readable date codes.

Cork boy 55

Matt Simis wrote: »

Seriously? Do you see any numbers there? Looking as the post dates.. were you driving around for the last 8mths on your 12year old tyres!?
Just go get new or in-date Part Worns with readable date codes.

I have new tyros on my car

This is another project, different car

YouTookMyName

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

What age would these tyres be please?

DOT JEFH OVP
DOT OU

12th of never.