How Old Are Tires on Your Car
How Old Are Tires on Your Car: Tires are important when it comes to driving safely, as important as brakes or steering. We are used to immediately go for tread depth to identify if tires are good or not. True, tread depth is important but there are other factors too.
Deeper treads mean more friction therefore traction is improved. In winter time tread depth will make a real difference especially when braking.
Tire Age
There is something else though very few care to bother with: Age of tires. Tires are not ageless; they will age just as a car will. Old tires will become unsafe for driving and should be replaced.
Places with hot and dry climate have a tire shorter lifespan while those with cooler and humid climate a tire longer lifespan. Image below shows recommendations from a car manufacturer.
Tires have an expiration date
Typically tires will not be used if they are older than 7 years old. Department of Transportation (USA) indicates 7 years as a limit for tire age. Transport Canada says more or less the same.
Most car also manufacturers recommend replacing time of about 7 years. Winter tires are even more prone to ageing as rubber composition begins to harden and traction will suffer greatly. Winter tires will be used in more dangerous conditions such as Winter driving and age of tires will be one of determining factors on tire grip capabilities.
How to Check the Age of Your Tires
Every tire on sidewalls has a “DOT” number. DOT stands for Department of Transportation (USA) and ensures tires are compliant with safety regulations and requirements.
DOT has several numbers, for example: A DOT number like this DOT – 22TA-037X – 24/18 would mean tire was produced 24th week of 2018. Last four numbers indicate week and year of production. Rest of digits indicates location of manufacture and manufacturers code. Image above as an example shows a DOT 1219, production date is 12 week of 2019.
How Old Are Tires on Your Car
Sometimes you don’t see the DOT number on sidewall. That’s because manufacturers are not required to put DOT numbers on both sidewalls. You need to look at inner sidewall in this case. Take a look at your used car and check how old your tires are.
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