Unfortunately, this is going to distract people from the real issue with most people's tires: Over or under inflation. Also, I have to wonder how many of the people on the floor of a tire place actually know what those date codes mean.
I was a tire installer when I was just out of high school back in '83. We were taught about all the numbers on the tires including the date codes. That's when American tires were just converting over to the P-metric sizing compared to the Alpha size system. My '72 Dodge in 1983 had G60-15 sized tires all the way around.
Rubber definitely gets all cracked up and old looking. I just had all the valve stems on my car replaced 2 months ago because one split open from dry rot leaving me with a flat. They were only installed 1.5 years ago and sold to me as new when I got a new set of Yokohamas.
The "Firestone" problem wasn't an actual tire problem at all. It was Ford's problem for underinflating the tires, causing them to heat up. I used to run a Goodyear tire store back during those days. We had to replace a lot of those recalled tires, as people were switching brands from all of the paranoia. I was supposed to trim off the serial numbers of the "defective" tires, and mail them in to get my credit. Then, I was supposed to destroy the Firestones....lol...I kept and ran several sets of those tires until they were worn out. Very good tires too.
Thanks, I didn't know this about tyres. Checked the tyres on my car and they're from 2004.....hmm.
"The pilot managed to crashland it successfully and we refrained from shooting up the survivors. The word must have got around, as the next day I was shot down and had to bale out. While I was lying in the sand with a busted shoulder, the Bf 109 pilot who did me made a run over me but held his fire." Flg Off R.F. Martin, No 73 Sqn
