Club 80-90 Forums

A court case yesterday on a guy selling a 16 year old tyre as new. Which collapsed due to corrosion on the motorway fortunately safely. With many vans being used only for high days and holidays and low annual mileage tyres on them may well be approaching double figures or more in age. How can we tell how old a tyre is. Is there a code on it ? We are told not to buy secondhand tyres but every secondhand vehicle is fitted with them and we take them for granted.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/t ... aker.html#

No codes just a date of manufacture..
the first two numbers refer to the week and last two refer to the year
six years from that date the tyre should be changed.
Because rubber is organic and the resins used within for construction it degrades.
Modern tyres do not contain a large amount of natural rubber these days, but it still appears in the most crucial areas due to it's flexible abilities.
Tyre life is extended due to these developments.
This life is the ability of the tyre to perform it's function.
After six years this ability is falling away and the percentage chance of failure is passing the accepted levels

when buying a vehicle it is often overlooked, it's the first thing I check... not the tread left , but the date.

I had to replace all the tyres on my van a few years back as the walls were splitting from age. Still had plenty of tread on them so it was a little heart breaking. We dropped the spare and it was the original......

I replaced all 5 tyres on my van when I bought it earlier this year. I bought brand new, good quality (Marshal) 8 ply van tyres.

My Dad (who worked as an engineer at the Dunlop factory in Speke, Liverpool, for many years) always drummed it into us to always look after our tyres, and I always have done.