VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Decoding Dot on an old tire

Last year I got 4 reserve rims for my Chevrolet .They came with old white wall tires.
Next month comes a local vintage vehicle gathering so I should like to use them for that day They are American made *Allstate* 650 x 16 Super safety thread.
I can’t determine their age . Can anybody help with decoding their DOT numbers?.

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab317/Jianis/White%20walls/DOT.jpg

http://i875.photobucket.com/albums/ab317/Jianis/White%20walls/Whitewalls.jpg

Thank you in advance

Jianis

MY GUESS !!


35 is a plant code for the manufactuer
31946= 3rd week of 1946

That's my guess,and I'm sticking to it.....grin

I doubt Allstate would be the orginal manufactuer,likely a replacement tire. Back then SEARS was HUGE. You could buy EVERYTHING from Sears,even houses,motorcycles,cars,etc.


http://www.antiquehomestyle.com/plans/sears/1923sears/23sears-marquette.htm


I saw an old Allstate car ( I think it really was a henry J )at the car show last weekend. They had Allstate motorbikes also.




http://motorbike-search-engine.co.uk/classic_bikes/allstate-classic-motorcycles.php

They will not be from 1946 because they were not producing white tires in 1946.
To have the DOT number and by the description I would guess that they are from the late '70's or 1980's.

I wouldn't use them that old, not safe.

Who's they? White wall tires have been out since the 30s.

http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/cars-ads-1940s/11

Are you saying Allstate was not producing WW tires in 1946?

I doubt that your tires are very old, NYLON Tube type is an indication, they were not marked TUBE TYPE untill after Tubeless tires became the norm. I bet your tires are recently produced Repops.

The Department of Transportation was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, the Department’s first official day of operation was April 1, 1967.

I would give then a try, they look fine, Tires from back then were made of better rubber and if they will hold 32-40 psi of air. I would drive them around the countryside and see how they hold up, I don't expect to die if I have a tire failure on my old car.
I had a set of ALLSTATE SAFETY TIRES on my 28 that are really old, before 1945. They had red rubber tubes in them, made several tours with them at 40 to 45 MPH (Our tours are slow) and they are still good, better in my estimation than the set of the new ones I replaced them with, at the urgeing of some of my VCCA gurus, they are the new Vietnemese tires and are not all that impressive. Take this advice for what it is worth and what it cost, it is your car and your life! make your own decision, you are a big boy now.

I wouldn't run them at any speed. The subject was to ID the tires. I'd be afraid to stand by the tire and inflate it! I never said they were drivable...no way.

The old tires that I removed from my old car had liners in them. Not safe by anyones standards.

What I was saying is that WW tires have been on cars since the 30s or even before. The link shows GM ads with the WW tires on them.

BTW. You were kidding about the Vietnamese tires right? I wouldn't buy those at any price.

Yesterday I installed the 2 frond ones and drove around here at low speeds ,just for testing them, they seam to be ok for a quiet ride.I should not risk the safety of others driving with them on the motorway. If the 2 back ones test well too then I am going to use them only for one day just for the...show.
The price of white wall tires here is prohibitive so I have a set of nice light truck radial tires that I normally use. They ride very good and the thread pattern looks like they are coming from the 40s.

Jianis

White wall tires were not available from 1942 to late 1947. Infact very few tires were made during WWII until the reclaimed rubber tires i 1944 and 1945 which were pure junk. Then came the synthetic rubber tires which were standard equipment on 1946 cars. Just read all the warnings in the 1946 Chevrolet owners maual as to the short comings of these tires.
White walls were not available again from Mar of 1951 till late 1952 - Korean war this time. The 1946 cars and the above mentioned 1951-52 cars did not even come with a spare tire.

If your tires don't look cracked and dried out I would not be afraid to used them if they have nylon or polyester cords. The poly were the latest.
The DOT code first appeared in the late '70's.

Why would GM advertise their cars in newspaper ads having whitewall tires if they were not available?

Here's a link showing page after page of ads with whitewall tires.

http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/cars-ads-1950s/3




p.7 1952 cadillac

NOTE-
The blue 1952 Cadillac has black tires.
The red 1946 Ford has black tires.
Those are the only two cars that fit into the catagory.
The 1951 Lincoln pictured with whites is really a 1953.
Look at any 1952 car sales literature and you will not see white tires unless its a very late 1952 ad. Same for 1946.

Is the cadillac in the post above a 1952 or 53?

Its either a 1951 or 1952 but not a 1953.

No, I wasn't kidding, some sizes of tires are limited to these imports. Seems like your tire I.D. decoding was a bit off, since DOT wasn't born and in action until April 1967.

Yeah it was a "Guess". Chevy Nut says..The DOT code first appeared in the late '70's. You experts are going to have to get together...grin

I don't think i would have told that about buying Vietnamese tires. It's not to late to edit that out. I won't tell all my Vietnam buddys.

Can't speak for others, but I've made peace with 'Nam. It's a beautiful country with great people that got caught up in the post WW2 problems that congress wouldn't address when they should have. Had the leadership of the "Great Generation" been anywhere near as good as the common men and women of the era, we could have been spared Korea, Vietnam, "Cold War", etc..... Vietnam is putting out some good stuff now. It's China that seems intent on killing us by sending everyday goods that are contaminated and dangerous.

But enough on politics! It would be nice if an American tire manufacturer would produce modern but old looking tires at reasonable prices for our old cars. People WILL buy American if it's available!

Don't have nuttin against the VC, anymore, "It wasn't me that started that old crazy asian war...counting flowers on the wall don't bother me at all....watching Captain Kangaroo"... I just said they don't make a good quality antique car tire.

I guess you'd had to have been there to see my side of this. I think we better drop this subject and talk about 38 chevy coupes. If you need a photo of my old coupe ,just ask....grin