How Old is Too Old When Buying New Tires?

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Tire Rack had an interesting little blog posting about this topic:

http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/hunters-ramblings/how-old-are-the-tires-i-buy

"..............What is a reasonable age for a tire when making a purchase? Tire Rack works with many global manufacturers from around the world. It's not unusual for tires to be six to nine months old when we receive them direct from the tire manufacturers. We employ inventory rotation so that most of the tires we ship are less than a year old.

How fresh are the tires being sold by Tire Rack? As previously mentioned, Tire Rack employs inventory rotation so that most of the tires we ship are less than a year old. However, due to the global economy view taken by many tire manufacturers, Tire Rack isn't able to guarantee production dates..................."
 
Personally I wouldn't want to install a new tire that was more than 2 years old on my own vehicles.

I sell tires for a major manufacturer here in Mexico, and in general the new tire supply chain is faster here than in the U.S., but one of my distributors still manages to send me 3 year old tires that were lost in their warehouses from time to time. It angers me when they do, but they haven't sent me any that were old enough to justify a complaint.

I have a customer that lives in Ciudad Juárez and works in El Paso. He bought 4 new Pirellis in El Paso that were all 10 & 11 years old. I advised him of the risks, the next time he brought me his SUV it had 4 new Goodyears less than a year old on it.

If tirerack.com has especially old tires available for sale they make a note of it in the tire specs tab.

Another major tire manufacturer's policy is:
>> New tires over 6 years old shouldn't be installed;
>> Tires over 5 years old need annual inspections by a tire professional;
>> Tires over 10 years old should be retired from service.
 
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When you have worn the tires out, they should not be more than 6 years old. So if you were going to put a lot of miles on them in a short time, then it would not be a big deal to get tires with a few years on them. But if you are putting low miles on them every year, then they should not have much age before you get them.
 
Michelin says:

Quote:
If there is a defect in workmanship and materials during the life of the
original usable tread, or six (6) years from date of purchase (whichever
comes first), your tire may be replaced on a pro rata basis under this
warranty. After six (6) years or the wear of the original usable tread,
whichever occurs first, all warranties, expressed or implied, expire.


And:

Quote:
While most tires will need replacement before they achieve 10
years, it is recommended that any tires in service 10 years or more from the
date of manufacture, including spare tires, be replaced with new tires as a
precaution even if such tires appear serviceable and even if they have not
reached the legal wear limit.


So one might extrapolate that up to 4 years between manufacture and being put into service would be acceptable.

See: (WARNING direct link to large PDF)

http://www.michelinman.com/mediabin/Appr...romise_Plan.pdf
 
Funny story...kindof...
When I got kitacamry the dealer had put on new Sumic brand tires, a brand I'd never heard of, up front...
I had 5-year old tires on the rear and decided to just pop in on used tire places as I passed by them to see if they had any newer Sumics to put on the rear and match those up front...

After a few months one guy said he had a pair just like them but a different brand...What ???? I thought....He took a pic with his phone and took me back to the racks and found 2 like-new pull-offs that had identical tread and a different name...Doral...and were made in the same factory, one week newer than the 6-month old Sumics...a real nice coincidence...a matched set that run nicely...

The relevance here is that I really wanted to get rid of the old rears, so much so that I just GAVE them to the guy...I didn't have to but I didn't want to take the responsibility of selling them myself...
 
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I recently bought a set of new Michelins from the local Discount Tire Store. One of the tires was 1 year old, and the other three were 2 years old. I am not anticipating any problems. But time will tell.

Would tire manufacturers support a regulation that requires a "sell by" date molded in the tire sidewall? Not likely! And that is, I suspect, because there is insufficient data, and too many variables related to storage conditions, to accurately determine a sell by date.
 
Just an FYI:

There's a tire shortage in the US right now. It was worse last year, but it has carried over to this year.

The reason is that when the economy tanked, many tire manufacturers closed plants. Then when the economy improved, not only was it unexpected, it was also less manufacturing capacity to gear up - so the supply side of things couldn't keep pace with the demand.

That means that the time between manufacture and sale is pretty short. Don't get used to it. It will return to previous levels later.

So expect tires to be 1 1/2 to 2 years old when you purchase them. An expectation of 6 months Is outrageous.

And don't forget, if you are getting a good deal on your tires, it just might be that they are old. If you want fresh tires, say so up front.
 
Amazing. I would have thought that tires would be fresher, guess not.

We have a set of snow tires that we got in 2006, which had 02 markings on them. Wish I knew that at the time.

Impossible to deal with those dates though. I never get less than 60-70k out of a set of tires, so I never wear out tires before they age out. I generally go by cracking or bubbles to condemn tires. The age thing has made me throw away lots of tires with >50% tread.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
The age thing has made me throw away lots of tires with >50% tread.

Start buying more performance oriented tires.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
The age thing has made me throw away lots of tires with >50% tread.

Start buying more performance oriented tires.
smile.gif



And give up more MPGs? No thanks!

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Or buy high performance car.


I have a feeling based upon tread depth and mileage that Ill get 50k out of the OE tires on my 135i!
 
My Jetta has never gotten more than 40k out of a set of tires, and since I've been running winter and summer tires, that means it's basically a set every other year I'm buying. I fear our Camry will be similar. Anyhow, I'd be glad to buy 2-3 year old tires, especially if they knock a few bucks off... But then again, I'm usually (always?) buying brand name tires, so I'm not sure there are "old" tires to be had.
 
I asked for less than a year old tire when I installed Michelin MXV4s on my BMW a few weeks ago. All 4 were the same date which was about 6 months old. Pleased with the local shop and their attitude toward my request.

I have been told that some unusual size tires are not made very often as they run down the inventory before new production.
 
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I wouldn't put a set of tires that were more than three years old on a vehicle I intended to actually drive. I will transport on just about anything that vaguely resembles a tire, though.
 
My personal preference is to not buy anything than was made more than 1 year ago. The stuff I bought off TireRack in the past has always complied with this requirement.

BTW, I just bought some new tires for the 530i yesterday from a local tire shop. They were manufactured in February of this year, so about 2 months old, or at least 2 of them were. I can't see the date code on the other 2 as it must have been printed on the inner sidewall. I wish tire manufacturers would include the code on both sides to avoid this inconvenience.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
My personal preference is to not buy anything than was made more than 1 year ago. The stuff I bought off TireRack in the past has always complied with this requirement.

BTW, I just bought some new tires for the 530i yesterday from a local tire shop. They were manufactured in February of this year, so about 2 months old, or at least 2 of them were. I can't see the date code on the other 2 as it must have been printed on the inner sidewall. I wish tire manufacturers would include the code on both sides to avoid this inconvenience.


All the Michelins MXv4s I got a month ago were the same date and the codes were on the outside of the tires. I thought they used to be only on the inside.
 
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