How old are my tires?

[Chuck]

I have new looking 7x15 LT tires on my trailer...PO said that they were fairly recent when I bought the trailer last june. I don't remember exactly what he said about them...all I remember is that they weren't "old" (they certainly look good) and that he paid a pretty peny for them. I'm trying to ascertain just how old they are. I've seen in other posts about the DOT numbers that are on the sidewalls...I'll be darned if I can find it. (is it possible that its on the inside?).

anyway, I was looking at them the other day, and noticed a number sort of all by itself, near the load range/inflation pressure info: V141. I know that the last 2 digits on that DOT number are supposed to be month/year of manufacture....is it possible that these were made in april of 2001?

I can't even remember the brand on these tires...some "no-name" that I've never even heard of before. all I remember is that they're 7x15 LT..."made in mexico".

[uwe]

Can you post a picture of them?? Maybe someone can help you identify them.
Some of the tire websites have DOT code info.
Try www.tirerack.com

[csimingt]

Consumer Reports magazine has published several times how to find and decode tire manufacture dates. You would need to research old issues in the library.

Clark

[wingfoot321]

The Dot number should be on the inside of the tire along the rim flange.

It should be a 10 or 11 digit number like DOT XYAF 011 ( week one of 1991) or DOT XYAF 0103 (week one of 2003).

If the tires are nearly new the number should be four digits. They changed from 3 digits to 4 digits a few years ago.

You identified it as a 7.00x15 which means bias construction to me. Is it 7.00R15 which is radial? Some manufs. still make radial tires and don't use metric sizing but, they will be new tires.

[wingfoot321]

There is a very good Firestone web site on tires called www.TruckTires.com (not trucktire.com) which takes some digging through but, is very informative.

[ViewRVs]

This is an excerpt from a NHTSA page.

U.S. DOT Tire Identification Number
This begins with the letters "DOT" and indicates that the tire meets all federal standards. The next two numbers or letters are the plant code where it was manufactured, and the last four numbers represent the week and year the tire was built. For example, the numbers 3197 means the 31st week of 1997. The other numbers are marketing codes used at the manufacturer's discretion. This information is used to contact consumers if a tire defect requires a recall.

(Basically confirming wingfoot's info!)

[87MH]

Fred:

I talked with a national service rep at Michelin just a couple of weeks ago. He gave me a different version of the date code, which I confirmed on the Michelins on the 345.

80's tires -- last number is year of manufacture, previous 2 are the week code. As per Wingfoot's post.

90's tires -- same as '80's, but followed by a delta.

2000's tires -- last two numbers are year, the two to the left of the last two are the week code, as indicated in Fred's post above.

Of course, following the 7 year replacement rule, the 80's and 90's code will a moot point in a few years, as all pre 2000 tires should be replaced on the time factor alone.

Can anyone confirm the Michelin Code changes for the 80's and 90's for other manufacturers?