How To Know The Age Of Your Tyre?
Published On 27-Dec-2019
If the dealer sold you a tyre manufactured a year ago, your standard warranty (depending on tyre maker) will be counted from the date of purchase.
- The loss of grip and higher wear rate prompt people to check the age of their car’s tyres.
- You can determine the age of a car tyre by reading the code of the tyre present on its sidewall.
- In the four-digit code on a tyre’s sidewall, the first two digits show the week of manufacturing and the last two digits show the year of manufacturing.
- For claiming a warranty against any tyre defect, it is crucial to know the age of that tyre.
- The tyre warranty is counted from the date of purchase, and not from the date of manufacturing.
Wearing tyres and loosening grip may prompt you to check how old your tyres are. You may have the invoice of the tyre you procured to determine its age. However, for OEM fitted tyres or those for which you have lost the bill, you need to understand the code on the sidewall of the tyre to know its age.
Every tyre has an imprinted alphanumeric DOT code where the last four numbers on one side of the sidewall represent its manufacturing year. The first two digits of the four numbers denote the week of manufacturing while the latter two represent the year.
For instance, a DOT code on a random tyre is DOT 6l Y5 006X 2118. The last four digits - 2118 - represent the manufacturing period of the tyre; 21 is the number of weeks and 18 is the manufacturing year. So this tyre rolled out between May 21, 2018 and May 27, 2018 (21st week of 2018).
Besides affecting the vehicle performance, the age of the tyre is also important when you claim your tyre warranty. If the dealer sold you a tyre manufactured a year ago, your standard warranty (depending on tyre maker) will be counted from the date of purchase.
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However, if you lose the bill then you have no proof to show your purchasing date. In this case, the warranty would be considered from the date of manufacturing! That’s a loss of 2 years in the warranty.
Age may be just a number for you but not in tyre’s case. It is your only contact with the surface and is often the last thing we care about in our vehicles; until, of course, when they start giving clear hints of malfunctioning.
Small yet vital things ensure the longevity of your tyre. These include maintenance of the recommended tyre pressure all the time and routine inspection for early signs of small cracks or unexpected wear which may be due to wheel misalignment or improper wheel balance.
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