TIRE LIFE

[Al Zim]

Over the years discussions have centered around the life of tires. Last evening I succumbed to the television set and watched a report by 20/20 regarding tires. The two main points of the articel are 1.) plan on replacing you tires as they pass the six year old age mark. 2.) learn how to read the date code on the tire. Many tire companies including sears and discount tires were caught selling tires that were manufactured in the mid 90's . The life of the tire has been exceded before it is installed on the car.
How do your read the date code. On the side of the tire will be a long string of letters followed by an oval with 3 or four numbers in the oval. Tires manufactured after 2000 have four numbers (for example 5107 is a tire that is manufactured in the second to last week of 2007.) A tire with a 3 diget number such as 508 would be manufactured in the 3rd from the last week of 1998 (or 1988) The tire is nearly 10 (or 20) years old and time to make a swing for you grandchild with it.
Body problems with the tread coming off the tire and slapping the fenders and quarte pannels is a difficult problem to fix. Al Zim b][/b]

[Ryan Van Luchene]

Al,

i don't understand how you deciphered the week the tire was made. can you or anyone expand? "5107 = second to last week of 2007" and "508 = third from the last week of 1998" doesn't make any sense to me.

Thanks,
Ryan

[Jon Finkelstein]

If I understand it right, tire manufactured after 2000 have for digits. The
first two correspond to the week of any given year. So "51" would represent
the send to last week, since there are 52 weeks in a year. The last two
digits represent the year. So in this example, 07 represents 2007.

In the three digit example Al gave for tire made pre-2000, the 50 represents
the week as above, and the 8 represents 1998. That said, I don't know what
it would look like for a tire made in the 1980s.

I hope I understand it right and am not propagating misinformation.

All the best,

Jon
64 SC Coupe.


On 5/12/08 1:11 PM, "Ryan Van Luchene" <dejabuzzed@yahoo.com> wrote:

Al,

i don't understand how you deciphered the week the tire was made. can you or
anyone expand? "5107 = second to last week of 2007" and "508 = third from the
last week of 1998" doesn't make any sense to me.

Thanks,
Ryan

-- 
Jon Finkelstein, Partner - Creative

GRIP LIMITED
179 John Street, 6th Floor, Toronto, Ontario  M5T 1X4
(phone) 416 341 7217  (cell) 416 550 6844  (fax) 416 593 8951
(email) jonfinkelstein@griplimited.com

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[Ryan Van Luchene]

oh OK...thanks Jon, makes total sense now.

[Jim Beam]

Ryan,
I understand, as per prior posts, that prior to 2000 the first two numbers specified the week of manufacture and the last number indicated the year. So, "508" would mean the tire was made the 50th week of either 1988 or 1998. After 2000 the year was indicated by the last two numbers. The number "5107" means the tire was made the 51st week of 2007.
Jim
'63B Coupe
'87 911 Coupe

-----Original Message-----

From: Ryan Van Luchene <dejabuzzed@yahoo.com>
Sent: May 12, 2008 11:11 AM
To: 356talk@356registry.com
Subject: [356Talk] TIRE LIFE

Al,

i don't understand how you deciphered the week the tire was made. can you or anyone expand? "5107 = second to last week of 2007" and "508 = third from the last week of 1998" doesn't make any sense to me.

Thanks,
Ryan

Post generated using Mail2Forum via email.

[Barry Brisco]

Jon, I believe what you wrote is accurate. Under
the old 3 digit system it's not possible to
differentiate between an 80's and a 90's tire.
But of course you should never use tires more
than 10 years (or maybe only more than 6!) so it
doesn't matter.

In my opinion, any tire with a 3 digit code SHOULD NOT BE USED on a car.

Barry

-------------------------------------------
At 10:22 -0700 5/12/08, Jon Finkelstein wrote:

If I understand it right, tire manufactured after 2000 have for digits. The
first two correspond to the week of any given year. So "51" would represent
the send to last week, since there are 52 weeks in a year. The last two
digits represent the year. So in this example, 07 represents 2007.

In the three digit example Al gave for tire made pre-2000, the 50 represents
the week as above, and the 8 represents 1998. That said, I don't know what
it would look like for a tire made in the 1980s.

I hope I understand it right and am not propagating misinformation.

All the best,

Jon
64 SC Coupe.


On 5/12/08 1:11 PM, "Ryan Van Luchene" <dejabuzzed@yahoo.com> wrote:

Al,

i don't understand how you deciphered the week the tire was made. can you or
anyone expand? "5107 = second to last week of
2007" and "508 = third from the
last week of 1998" doesn't make any sense to me.

Thanks,
Ryan

--Ý
Jon Finkelstein, Partner - Creative

GRIP LIMITED
179 John Street, 6th Floor, Toronto, OntarioÝ M5T 1X4
(phone) 416 341 7217 Ý(cell) 416 550 6844 Ý(fax) 416 593 8951
(email) jonfinkelstein@griplimited.com

Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail transmission is intended only for the
person(s) to whom it is addressed. It may contain confidential or legally
privileged information, and the sender does not waive any related rights and
obligations. Any unauthorized disclosure, copying, distribution or taking of
action on its contents is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
message in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and
delete this message without reading, copying or forwarding it to anyone.

------------------------
Jon Finkelstein
64 SC Coupe
Reg # 18992




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[Mark Selleck]

I recently purchased a '97 BMW 528i that still had the original tires mounted on the car (<61k miles on the car when I purchased it). The tires looked perfect, no cracking, but were worn down to the wear bars on the rear. I wrote down all the numbers on the tires to figure age, and there were no numbers that corresponded with any of the information available on the web. When I purchased a new set of tires, I asked the fellow at the tire store if he could tell me how old they were. He told me there were no DOT #s on the tires (Continentals). Based on the fact that they were all the same, including the spare that had obviously never been on the ground, we came to the conclusion that they were the original tires that came with the car. I guess the Germans didn't put DOT #s on tires back then. At least, it appears Continental did not.

[Ken Daugherty]

Just for grins, I have a set of 15" Firestone Champion WSW
tires. Made in New Zealand. They are in mint condition and I have them
on a set of old VW rims and use them as 'project tires' to move a 356 in
the shop.
No way I would drive on them even if they look new. The date
code is 508. it could be 1988, 1998 or maybe 1978. They came off a
trailer queen 356. The casting lines are even on one.
Just curious, does anybody know when these cars would have been
made, 78-88-98? Firestone/New Zealand may be a clue.


Ken Daugherty
kend356@insightbb.com

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[Robert Kenton]

If I understand it right, tire manufactured after 2000 have for digits. The
first two correspond to the week of any given year. So "51" would represent
the send to last week, since there are 52 weeks in a year. The last two
digits represent the year. So in this example, 07 represents 2007.

In the three digit example Al gave for tire made pre-2000, the 50 represents
the week as above, and the 8 represents 1998. That said, I don't know what
it would look like for a tire made in the 1980s.

I hope I understand it right and am not propagating misinformation.

All the best,

Jon
64 SC Coupe.


On 5/12/08 1:11 PM, "Ryan Van Luchene" <dejabuzzed> wrote:

Al,

i don't understand how you deciphered the week the tire was made. can you or
anyone expand? "5107 = second to last week of 2007" and "508 = third from the
last week of 1998" doesn't make any sense to me.

Thanks,
Ryan

Al is spot on with his comments. If you actually have tires made in the 80's or earlier, I personaly would not drive them, except perhaps for backing the car in and out of the garage! FYI, Coker has a new shipment of Michelin XWX's, 165 x 15, due to arrive soon, tho there have been mult delays. As I understand it, Michelin makes a run of these only about twice per year, so now is the time to call Coker if you're in need.

-- 
Jon Finkelstein, Partner - Creative

GRIP LIMITED
179 John Street, 6th Floor, Toronto, Ontario  M5T 1X4
(phone) 416 341 7217  (cell) 416 550 6844  (fax) 416 593 8951
(email) jonfinkelstein@griplimited.com

Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail transmission is intended only for the
person(s) to whom it is addressed. It may contain confidential or legally
privileged information, and the sender does not waive any related rights and
obligations. Any unauthorized disclosure, copying, distribution or taking of
action on its contents is strictly prohibited. If you have received this
message in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and
delete this message without reading, copying or forwarding it to anyone.

Post generated using Mail2Forum via email.