www.jec.org.uk

In August this year I had 4 new tyres fitted 2 at one dealer and 2 at another.

As I keep reading we should all run tyres of only up to 10 years old I thought I would look up the manufacture date on my tyres.

The 2 rears have a date which I think relates to the sixth week of 08, so February 08 which means they were 18 months old when they were fitted.

The front two I have not yet been able to find the date as although they are also P6000 they are stamped made in Germany, I cannot as yet find the country of manufacture on the rears.

My rambling point is that about 15% of the life of my new tyres was spent in a rack.

Michael,

Perceived wisdom seems to be don't buy a tyre if it's over two years old.

I understand that you think you've "lost" 15% of your tyres life. However, I suspect that the biggest influences on the life expectancy of a tyre is how the car is used, stored and maintained. Incorrect tracking will bang the life out of your front tyres in a few thousand miles and a spirited trackday can take a great percentage of the life out of your tyres in one day! Parking the car continuously in bright sunlight will increase the UV deterioration.

I bet that you'll end up eventually replacing the tyres because they are worn not because they are "too old".

As an aside, if you can't find the week/year code on the tyre, it could be because it's stamped only on one sidewall. If you can't see it, it could be that it's on the inner sidewall.

Paul

Hi Paul

I am going to look on the inside of the fronts today.

In reality you are quite right I will wear the tyres out before they reach the age of ten, my point is that when I got the car two of the tyres had plenty of tread but were date stamped to be over 10 years old so the tyre guy's got very annimated about changing them.

Some owners of classic cars will not do the mileage to wear the tyres out in eight and a bit years so they will be told to change them sooner just because they were 18 months old when fitted.

Update

This weekend I put my front wheels on the back and backs to the front and guess what no more rumble from the suspension.

I suspect my new front tyres are not quite as round as they should be, but now they are on the back I have a smooth Jaguar ride once again.