Caution - New old stock tires

[PV1]

I don’t know if this will be an issue going forward, but the last tires I bought for Koorz (I believe 2018 and 2019) had to be replaced today due to dry-rot. The front treads were separated so badly I could almost fit my pinky in the cracks (Yokohama), and the rear tires had splits in the sidewalls (Dunlop, one bad enough to start losing air). Turns out the tires were manufactured in 2011 and were sold to me as new around 4 years ago (being a little loose with dates as I don’t know for sure which receipts belong to which car, but I know Koorz had all four tires changed at some point during my ownership, and Bear gets tires almost annually). Bear is currently wearing 2014 Yoko fronts and 2017 Dunlop rears.

On the sidewall of the tire, it will say DOT, followed by four characters. After the four characters, there should be a string of characters in a raised oval (similar shape to the Nintendo logo, either on inner or outer sidewall). The last four numbers tell the week and year of manufacture (WWYY). While the tires I just got today (all Dunlop) were 2021 and 2022, there may be old stock left elsewhere in the country.

Just something to keep an eye out for if you don’t put a lot of miles on. I was bummed about replacing the rears as they had plenty of tread left, but were unsafe due to sidewall splits.

https://adobe.ly/3gCZJog

 

[BarryP]

Thank you for the tire info. I just replaced my tires this year and got them off Amazon since no tire shop here had the iMiev size. I better check my date codes!
-Barry

 

[jray3]

Thx for the reminder, as oddball tire sizes like ours are produced less often and inventory doesn’t turn over as fast. I took a big discount on 2019- produced winter tires from Tire Rack last month, but they advertised ‘em as such!