SAVE YOUR LIFE AND THOSE OF OTHERS! - LEARN HOW TO CALCULATE A TIRE'S EXPIRY DATE!
Did you know that every tire has an expiry date after which it must be replaced? Failure to do so could risk the car owner having blown-up tires while driving! The life span of a tire from the date of manufacture is four years. This is an international standard.
Now, how do you know the date of manufacture of your tire? Well the date is actually written on the tire itself as four digits. The first two digits represents the week of manufacture, while the last two represents the year of manufacture.
Please note that the four digits stand alone. They are not added to any alphabet(s). Some manufacturers place the asterisk sign (*) before and after the four digits, while others simply encircle it.
For example, 1612 means that the tire was manufactured on the 16th week (last week of April) in the year 2012. The tire will therefore expire on the 16th week of 2016. In the attached image, the tire was manufactured in the 3rd week of 2004. It expired in the 3rd week of 2008.
You may therefore buy a "brand new" tire which has since EXPIRED or just about to expire! So watch out! Some dubious manufacturers don't even state the date of manufacture on their tires, which is a breach of the Estacode. This kind of breach is common among the "Made in China" brands.
Buying a tire devoid of manufacturing date is akin to swallowing a pill without knowing the expiry date. In fact, it is even worse, because the expired drug can only harm you, while a burst tire puts the lives of ALL the occupants of your vehicle in jeopardy, plus the others that might be killed if your vehicle hits other vehicles or passersby!
So now that you know how to read your tire's expiry date, please do the needful. It takes only few minutes to find out the expiry date of your tires! Let us collectively bring an end to the senseless deaths on our roads due to expired tires.- by Ahmed Idris