Tire Fraud
by Zee
(Waipahu, HI, USA)
Date of Tire Fabrication (ww + yy)
Recently a TV story was broadcast about the "real-age of tires".
What a shocking and very informative program it was! Did you know that just because a tire is being sold as "new", it doesn't mean it is newly made?
We are a trusting society and pretty much believe that new tires are just that, new. Wrong!!
There are a series of numbers on the tire sidewall that will tell you what year and the week of the year that a particular tire was made. They will be on the outer rim or the inner rim, depending on how your tire was mounted.
A truly useful tool to have when in the market for new tires!
(ed. See Sidewall markings for more details on what you can learn from a tire's markings.)
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Editorial Comment:
It may be these tires are completely legitimate.
Many tire manufacturers put the DOT code on both sides of the tire with the date part only on one side. So, check both sides of your tire before suspecting that there is something wrong.
I have seen cases of tire fraud, for example, tires which were rejected from a tire factory for poor quality which were cut in half in the center of the tread and vulcanized back together. In these cases there was NO DOT code on either side, which was what raised the suspicion in the first place. After the tires were inspected in a lab it was discovered that the cords and steel belting were both cut and the tires had virtually no internal reinforcement.
TG