VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Tire Build Date

I just checked the numbers on the front tires of my 1995 Suburban. I found E22 2310. What does this tell me or do I need to find other numbers?
Thanks for your help.

If this number is in a stamped (melted in) area with "DOT" in front of it,then it is the manufacture date.

2310 = 23rd week of 2010

Steel belted radial tires become questionable after around 6 years of age due to the steel belts oxidizing and separating from the rubber and there is discussion within governing bodies to make an "expiry" or "replace by" date around the 6 year point. This came about when the Ford Explorers started flipping upside down and tire failure due to age was found to be a factor. This age is a factor even if the tire is never installed so check the date on new tires.

I had a shop install new tires stamped 6 years of age. They panicked when I showed them their own website recommending to replace all tires at 6 years from the stamped date not the install date! They replaced them. I've used radials up to 10 years but I've bought them new and knew the history and they were never ran low.

So....you're saying I should do something about my tires that were installed in 2006 that have only 2000 miles on them? :)

You'd certainly be at the cusp of risking a failure if steel belted, though the condition would be very different than a daily driver and obviously you'd care for and garage them. It's a tough call on a sunday driver or show car that obviously doesn't see high speed driving.

It's age not mileage that's the troublemaker. If on a tow vehicle or trailer would lose them immediately. BIAS and glass belts apparently do not have the same inherent issue so safer way longer.

Until they officially legislate and enforce it, it's a big "driver beware" though some insurance companies have claimed Negligence in situations where older than 6 year old tires were blamed for accidents. The scary thing is we know there are cars out there with older and way more suspect tires...

Here is a neutral, yet informative article on tires. https://www.edmunds.com/car-maintenance/how-old-and-dangerous-are-your-tires.html

At the end of the day I don't mind replacing tires with good tread a bit early since my family's safety and mine is worth more than tires. Just really annoying on a collector car that you've hunted for the correct look!

Thanks for the quick reply. I sometimes go for weeks without taking it out of the garage but I plan to pull a trailer with a car on it to the Anniversary Meet in 2021. I'll wait until next summer to replace the tires. The suburban has just over one hundred thousand miles on it and I bought it new. I mostly used it to pull a travel trailer.

Thanks Tim. I was kind of joking. I'm concerned about my tires. I've very limited on my driving right now. Thinking tires will be my next spring splurge.

Your tires could be very good for a long time depending on the brand, you just don't know without dissecting them, especially with that mileage you are not on the highway much lol. I have a set 31 years old with maybe 300 miles on them. I'm afraid to add air but they look brand new!

I don't think this applies to bias ply tires, as long as they are not cracked and have tread, I don'y worry about them. My old cars have very few miles per year and are stored inside. The only tires I worry about as far as age are on my motor home, it has low miles and stored inside but I don't want a blow out on it. I say 10 years if stored in side on the MH, probably 20 on a vintage car with bias ply and stored inside.

The old rubber in some of the BIAS ply tires lasts a loooong time...

Michelin says up to ten years but inspect them annually after four. The radials on my trailer are seven so I guess next spring I'll probably replace them with my tax refund money. They look good but.......

https://www.michelinman.com/howLongTireLast.html

...you guys can beat me with a wet noodle for this...... I've had my BF Goodrich Radial T/A's on my 37 for 19 years. I've only put 10,000 miles on them!! Yes, the pickup has stayed inside all these years and I've been particular about the kind of tire dressing I put on them as some can definitely shorten the life of a tire.

....there is no sign of weather cracking on the tires and I'm proud to say I just priced a set of the same tires and will have them put on by the end of the month.(Big sale going on at Ccstco) I like to spin the tires and drive fast quite a bit so I definitely need to put some new ones on.

***for safety sake, anyone taking off tires with huge miles on them but still having nice tire tread on them should dispose of them ourselves or at least make the tire shop promise not to sell them to anyone else as good used tires!! Just saying.

The problem with aged radial tires is tread seperation. The tread peels of when driven at high speed, especially in hot weather. A condition you would not encounter with a 1937 pick-up.

I'll throw this one out just as it was explained to me by a fellow who was a tire techie. I am no chemist so this might not make sense, but he told me that the modern tire has very little true rubber in it. Rather, it is a blend of various chemicals that combine to create a strong material designed to withstand specific operating conditions. (Hence, the differences between "high-speed" vs "high-mileage" vs "all-weather" vs "winter" type tires). When the tire is rotating, these chemicals remain mixed and the tire maintains its integrity. When the tire is not rotating, these chemicals begin to separate and the tire begins to break down. When the tire begins rotating again, the chemicals go back into the combination they are supposed to do.
If a tire is left to sit for a long period of time (like an RV tire over a winter), then put to use, the chemicals will go back together, but not completely as they should. As the tire ages, this breaking down of the chemicals increases to the point that the tire may fail completely after a certain time. This is why a tire should be replaced after 7 years no matter what it looks like. I'm sure someone with more chemistry knowledge can add to this, but it made sense to me.

I am a Chemist so can tell you that the explanation is only partially correct. There are at least four factors involved in the deterioration of tires. The most prevalent particularly for trailer tires is moisture migrating through the rubber. Yes water molecules can penetrate rubber. They eventually reach the steel belts and with oxygen (a smaller molecule so moves through rubber faster) begin to form rust. Once the rusty spot gets large enough it begins to de-laminate the rubber to steel bond. With additional flexing or time the tread separates or the tire blows. Tires on the ground see more water molecules so the process proceeds faster than those off the ground. Ozone (three oxygen atoms combined) is a powerful oxidizer. It is ubiquitous (everywhere) being formed by plants, ultraviolet light, electrical arcs, lightening, etc. It reacts with the tire rubber resulting in breaking bonds and therefore weakening the structure. Ultraviolet light can also directly "attack" rubber doing essentially the same as ozone. The final factor is temperature. Chemical reactions rates increase as temperature rises. An estimate often used is that they double in rate for every 10 deg. What that means is a 10 deg rise in temperature doubles the rate. Another 10 deg. rise doubles again or 4 times the original rate. Reactions also increase when the concentration of reactants increases. All that is called kinetics and thermodynamics that are explained by laws and theories. Study of that is not for the beginning chemists.

Thanks, Chipper, for adding the above. Would it be correct to assume that a tire begins to break down ever so slowly because of the 4 elements you have described, and that this process is non-reversible? Thus, the older a tire is, the greater the amount of degradation has occurred, no matter how many actual miles it has travelled.

You are correct. The deterioration begins when the tire is removed from the mold. It is proceeds very slowly but picks up rate as the degradation particles promote more deterioration.

When my trailer is parked I use PT lumber under the tires to eliminate ground contact. I think that helps to reduce moisture damage.

The PT lumber will not reduce the moisture damage much. Water will transfer through wood much faster than concrete or metal. Not much different than bare ground. Large gravel that has air channels between the rocks is much better. Lifting the tires into the air is even better. Of course moving the trailer every few days and warming the tires on the road will push the moisture back out. That is why vehicle tires last much longer than trailer tires that only occasionally rotate.

all this is information is good to know,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

That information was learned over the past 20 years mostly by observation and applying scientific process. Getting information directly from tire company engineers was not possible which was unfortunate in trying to understand what was actually happening.