How to find out the date of manufacture of a tire, when rubber was made

Under ideal conditions, tires can be stored in warehouses or in stores for no more than five years before the date of sale, according to the current GOST in Russia. The key word in this sentence is “under ideal conditions”, that is, at the right air temperature and in the right position. And the life of tires, in the same ideal conditions, can be as much as ten years.

But this is all according to GOSTs. But in real life, the correct storage conditions are not always observed, respectively, when buying a set of tires for a car, the question arises - how to find out when the tire was released and whether it was stored under normal conditions.

As for the conditions, this can only be determined by eye - are there any signs of deformation, if it was lying in the sun, then microcracks may appear, the rubber burns out.

The date of production can be very easily determined if you carefully study all the inscriptions on the tire. In fact, the seller is obliged to issue a warranty card for tires, which will indicate the serial number of the tire and its production date. In case of any problems with the tire, you can return it, and the seller will understand from his records that the purchase was made in his store.

According to American standards, all those manufacturers who supply their products to the United States encrypt information about the production date in a very simple way:

• on the court there is a small oval with a four-digit number. This number indicates the date of production, but not in the usual way, such as 01.05.14/XNUMX/XNUMX, but simply indicates the week and year.

It turns out a designation of this type 3612 or 2513 and so on. The first two digits are the week number, you can simply divide 36 by 4 and you get 9 - that is, the rubber was released in September 12.

If you need to know a more accurate date, then take a calendar and calculate in which month the thirty-sixth week. In the second case, we get 25/4 - approximately June of the thirteenth year.

If you come across a tire that has a three-digit code, then you definitely don’t need to buy it, because it was produced back in the last millennium, that is, before 2001. The first two digits are the week, the last digit is the year. That is - 248 - June 1998. True, if the tire was released, for example, in 1988 or 1978, then it will be difficult to determine this. Unless, of course, we assume that you have come across such a tire.

It is imperative to know the date of tire production in order not to buy last year's collection at the price of a new one, because many manufacturers produce new treads every year, and not very conscientious sellers can offer copies that were not sold out last year as new ones.

If you take rubber from your hands, then also take a look at the date. For Russian roads, the maximum age of rubber is no more than six years, and some manufacturers, such as Continental, give a guarantee of only 4 years.

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