Barcode stickers on tire bead, WHY?

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I have found bead leaks before coming right from where the barcode is stuck to the tire bead in the sealing area. Bad place to put it. Some of them peel off easy, others not so much. On those I will usually brush a little sealer on it. Michelin used to put them in the middle of the sidewall, and that wasn't good either. Since after it goes on the car, who cares what the barcode number is? They should put them on the tread, or decal and let it wear off!
 
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What brand of tire was this? Who is putting barcode stickers on the bead?

Almost every tire I've seen always has it on the tread, including the Dunlop tires I bought earlier this year (made by Goodyear).

Putting it on the inside of the tire seems pretty hard to find the barcode to scan it, and the tread is the easiest place so they can scan dozens/hundreds of them at a time.
 
I can't think of hardly any brand that doesn't put barcode stickers right on the bead. Cooper is the worst. Put on crooked and visible above the rim flange. I have a new set of CS5's sitting here that have 2 stickers on each tire.
 
i imagine they do it because its a smooth even surface.


i remember seeing multiple tires with bead stickers back when i used to work in a service center.


and you are right they can leak right where the sticker is, and if they didn't peel off they got sealer instead.
 
I think Michelin has put those stickers on the beads for years (as have other manufacturers). I've never had one to leak.

The stickers on Michelins are applied to the inboard bead (opposite the sidewall with the full DOT code with manufacturing date). If the technician pays attention, the decal faces inward as installed.
 
So are these serial number stickers or just UPCs? With serial numbers it's a great way to track customers for warranty etc without them knowing, as they can't see the number without specialized equipment.
 
I imagine that they're stock numbers and/or lot numbers from the manufacturer that can be used to track tires through the production process and then later used for failure analysis. The DOT date code doesn't have a whole lot of granularity to it...all you can narrow a tire down to is a week of a certain year. If a tire is decal'd with lot and/or serial numbers, a tire manufacturer would have better "forensic" information for trending tire failures.
 
The stickers are surely used during manufacturing, but after the tires are on the car the only way to read the sticker is to dismount the tire. Then you wouldn't be able to read it anyway because the printing wears off. Not all tires, but a lot will develop a slow leak over time right where the sticker is. Lot of gasoline is wasted because of a simple problem ,that could easily be solved by simply putting barcode somewhere else on the tire.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
So are these serial number stickers or just UPCs? With serial numbers it's a great way to track customers for warranty etc without them knowing, as they can't see the number without specialized equipment.

There are free smart phone apps that can read assorted 1D and 2D codes. A QR code reader is the most common, but I've got some that can read almost anything that isn't proprietary.
 
No your smart phone won't read the code, proprietary. Just to clarify, the problem mostly exists in the salt belt, and if the barcode sticker is on the back of the wheel it can leak. The backside of the wheel never gets washed off, and with stickers, and clip on wheel weights, it makes it all the easier for the corrosion to start. Salt on the roads saves a lot of drivers, but eventually it destroys every vehicle on the road, and the road. That is why snow tires should be required where salt is needed.
 
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: eljefino
So are these serial number stickers or just UPCs? With serial numbers it's a great way to track customers for warranty etc without them knowing, as they can't see the number without specialized equipment.

There are free smart phone apps that can read assorted 1D and 2D codes. A QR code reader is the most common, but I've got some that can read almost anything that isn't proprietary.


My question was is each barcode unique or are they the same across all the same size/make/model? IOW is it a secret?
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
My question was is each barcode unique or are they the same across all the same size/make/model? IOW is it a secret?


The white bar code is a unique to each tire. Look at the digits. They are on the order of billions of unique numbers.

Tire manufacturers use them to track the tires through the manufacturing process. It's a bit complicated, but it is possible to trace a given tire down to the raw materials - and even further upstream if the supplier of those raw materials also uses some sort of tracking system.

But the key is a computer listing of what information was captured during the manufacturing process. That bar code is only useful if you have access to that table. But if someone does have access, it can tell that someone all sorts of interesting information.

But once the tire leaves the tire manufacturer's control (and may even before - like at the warehouse door), the tracking stops. Tire distributors and tire dealers generally don't use the bar codes for tracking purposes.

But it is possible that when a tire gets returned to the tire manufacturer that the manufacturing information would then become available for further refinement of the manufacturing process (provided they can read the bar code - which is why the bead area is a common place for it.)
 
Originally Posted By: krzyss
Shouldn't they be removed before mounting?

Krzys


I can't remember which set of my tires have this (may be the coopers, may be the winterfarce) but that sticker isn't coming off without a knife. It's like molded into the bead or something.
 
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