How to check the year of the tire? - Banae

How to check the year of the tire? Tires are an important part of the car. They are in direct contact with the ground on which the car is driving. It is known – these substrates are different both in summer and winter. The right tire is one of the important elements to increase the safety of car users. Especially since no one uses the roads alone. One tire in poor condition is a serious threat to many people on a congested road.

The tire is not indestructible!

It’s not like a tire once installed will last forever, until the end of the life of the car itself. What is it not! Each product has an expiration date. It retains its original properties until a specific date. After this date, even if the product has not even been unpacked, it may lose its material value.

Why? Sometimes it’s about the impact of e.g. air, particles floating in it, temperature changes, etc.

What about used tires? They are very exposed to abrasion due to the fact that they are constantly in contact with the ground and its various types. Driving and repeated braking cause that in the end a particular tire ceases to provide safety, if only because its tread wears off.

In addition, the tire can come into contact with various sharp things on the road: stones, rods, etc.. It does not always get punctured immediately, but it is still a high risk of additional mechanical damage.

Tires adapted to the seasons

In our climate, we have a certain distinction of seasons. In winter, the temperature drops below freezing, snow and ice appear, and freezing rain falls. In summer, on the other hand, it can be very dry, and the roads heat up, and it’s solid. These differences mean that it is recommended to use tires appropriate for the season – i.e. summer or winter. They differ in the tread pattern, structure and rubber compound used.

Winter tires would make it harder to drive in the summer because of their bias towards more grip. If they additionally touched a heated surface, the problem would become even more troublesome.

On the other hand, summer tires – from late autumn to the beginning of warm spring – will not provide adequate grip on a cold surface, at least partly covered with ice. If you add any precipitation to this, driving with such tires increases the danger even more.

What to pay attention to to make the tire safe?

Fate as to the season is one thing. However, there is another aspect: the degree of wear. What is going on? Note that the right tread is very important. For some tires, the manufacturer sets the so-called tire wear index (TWI – Tread Wear Index). It must have a certain value for the tire to be fit for further use.

If this index has not been determined, the tread should be at least 1.6 mm deep, but this is a value that should already suggest that the tires should be replaced with new ones. Riding on the so-called bald tires is dangerous not only for the user of the car, but also for other road users. Poor tire condition has been the cause of collisions or serious accidents many times.

And for how many years is the tire fit for use?

If the tire is used almost immediately after its production and sale, you usually have to think about replacing it after about 5-6 years. It is generally recommended that tires should not be used for more than 10 years from their manufacture.

It happens that a given tire waits in the warehouse for, for example, 2-3 years until it is ready for use. However, how can a user check when a given tire was manufactured? This information can be found on the tire sidewall. These are four digits.

How to read them? The first two are the week, and the last two are the year of production. For example, the marking 2617 means that the tire was manufactured in the 26th week of 2017. After determining the age of the tire and its current technical condition, the user should decide whether the given tire should be replaced with a new one.

Is it worth buying a tire that is almost 10 years old, but has not been used at all?

There will be no visible signs of use on such a tire. If properly stored, it can even look very good. Only reading the production date will show how old it really is.

However, it is not worth risking and using such a tire for the sake of the age of the material from which it was made. After 10 years from production, the rubber compound lost some of its essential properties by itself. Using such a tire is too risky. It’s like taking a medicine a few months after its expiration date.

So what should you pay attention to when buying a tyre?

You should always be vigilant – regardless of whether you buy a new or used tyre. Even the new one may not be in perfect condition if it has been stored improperly for some time or is reaching 10 years. Each tire should be carefully inspected for tread pattern and damage.

And finally, the last thing: control of the year of production. If anything makes the buyer have doubts, he should not buy such a tyre.