New tires with older date code

[Picky1]

Just had 4 new General Altimax 365AW tires mounted on my wifes 2015 Toyota Sienna LE (FWD) minivan. Wanted to try all-weather tires and I found these tires for a great price plus they had $100 rebate. When we picked up the car I checked out the wheels and tires and noted that they had a manufacturing date of 4622, which to my understanding would be the 46th week of 2022 almost 2 years ago!

I have never experienced this issue with old date codes from this installer, so I went back into the store and complianed and they told me that there isn't really any difference between a tire manufactued in 2022 vs a tire made in 2024 and that it would have the same warranty etc.

This isn't sitting right with me, am I making a big deal out of nothing?

 

[DemoFly]

Yeah you're making a big deal out of absolutely nothing.

 

[AZjeff]

You're probably all right in Conn but I wouldn't accept them here in Az.

 

[k1xv]

If they sat 2 years indoors with no extreme heat or cold, the age does not matter.

 

[daves87rs]

If they gets used a decent amount, won’t make a difference.

 

[Dave Hess]

I noticed Tire Rack online had some tires with a date code of 2 years old.

It was a slow selling size and on clearance…. they wanted potential buyers to know they were not ‘fresh’ tires.

 

[shortyb]

Since they are all seasons, there are more oils and plasticizers in the compound to keep them compliant in colder weather and unused, age will have little effect on performance. Unless they sat for like 25 years and dried out, you'll have no problem with 2 year old "fresh" tires. Now a sport oriented tire will be a different story.

 

[Vercingetorix]

I noticed Tire Rack online had some tires with a date code of 2 years old.

It was a slow selling size and on clearance…. they wanted potential buyers to know they were not ‘fresh’ tires.

I bought some of these. They said 2021 production, the ones I received were 2023.

 

[CapriRacer]

The company I used to work for conducted an examination of tires that were 3 years old and couldn't find a difference with freshly manufactured tires.

It is common within the tire industry to consider tires up to 6 years old as being "new".

The science? Chemical reactions double for every 18°C rise. Typically a tire operates 35°C higher than ambient - so operating a tire ages a tire 4 times faster than one sitting in a warehouse. In addition, new tires have waxes and antioxidants that slow the chemical degradation while the tire is in storage.

 

[SC Maintenance]

My last set from discount tire were 1 year. I wasn’t thrilled but accepted them. I am unsure how this even happens with a common size?

2 years if you got a good deal is probably ok. If you paid full price I would be a bit miffed.

 

[nwjones18]

A "new" set of 2014 dated tires were installed on my ram when I bought it end of 2018, nearly 5 years old. I ran them for 5 years with no issues and replaced them at 10yrs from date of manufacture. No issues, I just didn't want to be riding on tires over 10yrs old.

 

[Dave Hess]

A "new" set of 2014 dated tires were installed on my ram when I bought it end of 2018, nearly 5 years old. I ran them for 5 years with no issues and replaced them at 10yrs from date of manufacture. No issues, I just didn't want to be riding on tires over 10yrs old.

I wonder if they were rotating tires at the shop / tire warehouse…. ?

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

The company I used to work for conducted an examination of tires that were 3 years old and couldn't find a difference with freshly manufactured tires.

It is common within the tire industry to consider tires up to 6 years old as being "new".

The science? Chemical reactions double for every 18°C rise. Typically a tire operates 35°C higher than ambient - so operating a tire ages a tire 4 times faster than one sitting in a warehouse. In addition, new tires have waxes and antioxidants that slow the chemical degradation while the tire is in storage.

Is that surface temp? In my car they're usually 12-15°C over ambient but that is also the internal temp at the TPMS sensor. Even on spirited drives I don't think I've seen much more than 20° over.

 

[Hall]

I am unsure how this even happens with a common size?

Poor inventory management, i.e. first in, first out not being followed. What I see with Discount Tire, for instance, is they don't stock anywhere near as many tires as they used to. If I check a random tire and size, their website will probably say "5 in stock at my store" or "4 available by Oct 31". They also promote online (pre-)ordering too so they can stock less and just order in the tires they need. If you walk into a tire store and say "I want 4 of these for my car" it's often "we can order those" or "can we offer you these instead?".

Every morning I see "tire distributor" delivery trucks on the road or in tire shop parking lots too, so more and more are doing on-demand inventory, it seems.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Poor inventory management, i.e. first in, first out not being followed. What I see with Discount Tire, for instance, is they don't stock anywhere near as many tires as they used to. If I check a random tire and size, their website will probably say "5 in stock at my store" or "4 available by Oct 31". They also promote online (pre-)ordering too so they can stock less and just order in the tires they need. If you walk into a tire store and say "I want 4 of these for my car" it's often "we can order those" or "can we offer you these instead?".

Every morning I see "tire distributor" delivery trucks on the road or in tire shop parking lots too, so more and more are doing on-demand inventory, it seems.

The year old ones were ordered ahead online / shipped to the store. So I guess there warehouse is equally incompetent. Not surprising.

 

[The motor guy]

I overheard discount tire not wanting to install a loose tire someone brought in if it was older than like 5 years old. I think it was the manager telling one of the employees, but I never saw the tire. I was just waiting in the waiting room.

 

[Hall]

The year old ones were ordered ahead online / shipped to the store. So I guess there warehouse is equally incompetent. Not surprising.

I was more referring to the warehouse/distributor, at least with some situations. I'm sure there are tire shops that "stock" a lot of tires but today, that's a bad idea. There's just too many sizes and probably not "common" sizes much.... I can't imagine some of the tires some shops are stuck with, back in some corner, covered in black, rubber dust, in a size they'll never sell.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I was more referring to the warehouse/distributor, at least with some situations. I'm sure there are tire shops that "stock" a lot of tires but today, that's a bad idea. There's just too many sizes and probably not "common" sizes much.... I can't imagine some of the tires some shops are stuck with, back in some corner, covered in black, rubber dust, in a size they'll never sell.

When I go to Discount tire here - a fairly new store, they have a whole mezanine full of tires right above the shop. I think there inventory, because when I have ordered tires they pretty much call to get the car in day of. Also when I have been waiting people come in with a flat and I hear them say they have those tires in stock and can put them on right now. I imagine there mostly common sizes. I agree though, there is probably some weird ones up there collecting dust also.

 

[Hall]

The DT I go to appears to have converted most of their storage space into a wheel alignment rack. I haven't been out in the "shop" area there in years so I don't recall if there's space elsewhere.

 

[The motor guy]

The DT I go to appears to have converted most of their storage space into a wheel alignment rack. I haven't been out in the "shop" area there in years so I don't recall if there's space elsewhere.

The alignment rack would be next to all the other lifts. The tires are up in a loft towards the back of the shop way up there