Exploding tires? You better check yours.

[Cudgel]

I saw this the other day but I forgot to post it up.

Mine is the 48th week of 2007 on my 2008 Mazda3.

Here is the video.


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

[Mafty]

wow, really interesting, i actually had no idea tires had a date printed on them nor was i aware of a life span if they had never been used.

[Mafty]

EDIT: just checked my after market tires which i bought 2 years ago, and the tires were made sixth week of 2006, so they were brand new when i bought them

[WeatherB]

Good find... Never knew that tires "expired".

[zedtech]

Wow! Didn't know they had manufacturer date stamps on them. Why wouldn't they make them consumer friendly though, makes no sense :S

[dentinger]

wow, really interesting, i actually had no idea tires had a date printed on them nor was i aware of a life span if they had never been used.

yupp.
its called a DOT number. usually, its something along the lines of XXXX XXXX DATE
however, the last 4 digits are only on one side of the tire

aaaaand like the OP said, the first 2 numbers are weeks, and the last 2 are the year.

[McGuyver_3]

HMM where i work we turn all the production dates on the outside so you dont have to crawl under your car and i have never seen anything older then 1 year that we use

[MikeyGT]

how long are we suppose to use the tires for? i'm sure it should be more than 6 years as thats when these companies suppose to dispose them.

[bluemazda3]

+1

thanks for the heads up.. gonna check mine ASAP!

[x_o_k_x]

woooow i had no idea that this was happening... Im gonna check all my tires right now!
well im safe my RSA says 0708..
and 2nd set of 4 Toyos says 0308..

[stormin84]

wow just checked my tires 3707 bought them in the spring of this year. checked my gf car no date on them they show DOT then letters. What does that mean?

[McGuyver_3]

means your production date is on the insdie of the tire

[stormin84]

yep your right just found them..on the inside what a pain to get to.

[dentinger]

you guys seem so panic stricken over this.

just as long as your tires arent cracking or getting excessively old, you'll be fine.

[ShortBus]

yeah what's with people getting their panties in a bunch over the dot number?

although, i thought the dot/serial was common knowledge? hope no one is riding on rubbers with only three digits.

[everfeb]

you guys seem so panic stricken over this.

just as long as your tires arent cracking or getting excessively old, you'll be fine.

I think the main thing is you don't want to be buying "new" tires that are already 2 or 3 years old when you put them on the car for the first time. I.E. old stock from Canadian Tire etc.

[MAZDA Kitten]

......... or this might happen to you like it did to me
WOMP WOMP

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/2480510100_55b1aabc08_b.jpg

[S.F.W.]

that's exactly what my tire looked like when it failed. It was really scary.

[dentinger]

a) reinforced my ass!!
b) thats an 8" wide wheel right, agatha? what size tire were you running?

[MAZDA Kitten]

yeah they're 8 wide
hmmmm i dont really remember I think they were 215/45/17? dont quote on me on it though :P

[FLIPDADY]

Stay away from the tires made in China and Taiwan.

[MAZDA Kitten]

Stay away from the tires made in China and Taiwan.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++1

and avoid sellers that tell you 'they are good tires' LOL

[Bean]

Sorry for posting another thread for this. Gotta check my tires tomorrow

[El Cheapo]

I havent checked my tires yet, but in Canada I dont think it's required to have the date on the front of the tire. As the story points out, rubber breaks down. So the bottom line is to dump your tires after 6 years from the manufacturing date, irregardless of wear or how good your tires look.

[El Cheapo]

BTW, arent virtually all tires m ade in China these days? Has anyone checked their tires for lead? lol.

[ShortBus]

I havent checked my tires yet, but in Canada I dont think it's required to have the date on the front of the tire. As the story points out, rubber breaks down. So the bottom line is to dump your tires after 6 years from the manufacturing date, irregardless of wear or how good your tires look.

nope all tires must have a dot number and my tires are made in france and japan.

[El Cheapo]

Agreed, I know they have to have a DOT (Department of Transport) number but manufacturing date I am unsure of.

[ShortBus]

yes, and the dot number contains the manufactured date, therefore...

[htc***]

It might be re-posted and might be couple years old but the info. will be helpful for someone whoever want to know about tires before spend money to buy new/old tires. Also learn how you can check when your tire was manufactured.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRGQZU5S5-4


http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24390155/


Just because a tire looks to be in perfect shape doesn't mean it's safe, say safety experts who are advising motorists that tires that are more than six years old could fail with catastrophic results.

"You can look at a tire that appears to be new, has brand-new tread, never touched the ground, but that tire could be over-aged to the point where the material properties can't withstand the forces when you put it on your car," Sean Kane of Safety Research and Strategies said in a special report filed for TODAY by Natalie Morales.

A recent government report agreed with Kane, finding that 84 percent of insured tire claims it examined from a number of states involved tires that were more than six years old. A research video showed a tire that had been artificially aged to six years disintegrating under the load of a moving car.

Kane and other safety advocates want tire manufacturers to stamp their products with an expiration date. "We see this in a range of products from washing machine hoses to yogurt," Kane said. "The manufacturers of tires need to do the same thing."

Cracking the code
Few consumers are aware that tires already are stamped with the week and year they were made, and Kane urged motorists to check their tires and to replace any that are older than six years. The code, mandated by the U.S. Department of Transportation, is printed on each tire's sidewall. Usually it's on the outside of the tire, but it may be on the inner sidewall, requiring removal of the tire to see it.

The code will end in either three or four numbers. The first two digits tell the week the tire was made; the last two tell the year of manufacture. So the four-digit number "5005" means the tire was made in the 50th week of 2005.

Four-digit numbers have been used since the year 2000. In the 1990s, three-digit numbers were used, with the first two indicating the week and the last digit indicating the year. So the three-digit number "156" means the tire was made in the 15th week of 1996. Before the 1990s, the codes weren't required.

Safety experts advise replacing any tire that is six years of age or older regardless of its appearance. That also goes for spare tires, which may be unsafe for use even if they've never been used.

A deadly lesson
That's a lesson that Linda Rowan learned through a tragic accident. In 1999, her 10-year-old SUV had a flat. She checked the spare, which was the same age as the car, made sure the tire had full tread and was properly inflated, and mounted it on the vehicle.

"It looked like a good, brand-new tire," she said in Morales' report. "The tread was good on it. I thought it was fine."

Two days later, her son Nicholas took the SUV out. While driving on a highway near their Florida home, the tire failed catastrophically.

"He lost control of the vehicle, it rolled several times, even though he was wearing his seatbelt," Rowan said. "He died."

Rowan has recently reached an undisclosed settlement with the manufacturers of both the tire and the vehicle. Neither company admitted liability, but Rowan is now asking for expiration dates to be stamped on tires.

"If I had known that the tire had expired, I would not have put it on my truck," she said. "I lost my son because of that tire."

Tire manufacturers are resisting efforts to mandate expiration dates on tires.

"People may view the expiration date as the minimum service time they can use the tire, no matter what they do to it, whether they care for it or not, whether they've worn it to the nub," said Dan Zielinski of the Rubber Manufacturers Association.

Safety experts advise that if a tire does fail catastrophically, the driver should not hit the brakes, which can cause the vehicle to swerve out of control. The car will pull suddenly toward the blown tire, and drivers should not jerk the wheel back, which can cause the car to roll.

What drivers should do is immediately back off the accelerator and gently pull the wheel back to straighten the car while it coasts to a stop. The brakes may be applied gingerly once the car has slowed to a manageable speed.

[froggy]

really important information for many people, to me this is just another reason to have mechanical safety inspections every couple of years (like most contries in Europe) to be able to renew your plates/insurance. I don't want to be taken out because some idiots 12 year old tires blow out!

[FoXy]

hmmm... I was unaware of this... but unfortunately I am not surprised. This is really sad, and kind of scares me.

[Default User]

BTW - winter tires generally have a 4-yr shelf life despite the amount of km's on em, and how deep the tread is.

After 4 years the compound simply does not react the same

[PCLoadLetter]

Excellent information that everyone needs to know, thanks for sharing.

This thread should be a stickied.

[PearlM3]

It's a commun misconception among the public that the tread is the most important part of the tire. When you are buying more expensive tires vs cheaper tires it has nothing to do with tread, it's all about the compounds used in the tires. Just like anything else in life, the compounds break down over the years.

This is great info!!

[M&D Executive Auto]

When I had my tire dealer, the tire manufacturers were allowed to ship tires to tire dealers up to 3 years old before the retail public even sees the tire for sale, and we were recommended to not sell a tire that was over 8 years old to take the loss and dispose of the tire.

How many places you think eat the loss and dispose of the tires maybe 1-2%.....?

[mit-gee-mui]

http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?27005-Exploding-tires-You-better-check-yours.&highlight=check+tires

http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?28562-Buying-tires-Check-this-out&highlight=check+tires

:FYI smiley

[S.F.W.]

http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?27005-Exploding-tires-You-better-check-yours.&highlight=check+tires

http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?28562-Buying-tires-Check-this-out&highlight=check+tires

:FYI smiley

threads merged. Thank you MGM.