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My son bought a C3 '69 car in 2009 with Dunlop GT Qualifier raised white letter radial tires on it. He has had the car 10-years so we know the tires are 10-years old plus whatever age they were when they were put on the car by the previous owner. Tires ride fine but it makes me a little nervous driving them at 55+ mph knowing that the rubber is pretty old.
Here is the code information off the back of one of the tires:
Dunlop Radial GT Qualifier 00 13 46 DOT DAUT A13 and then an oval stamp with 231 on the inside of the stamp. Tires are P255 / 60R15 102S
Tires are in good shape, plenty of tread, no weather cracking and they look nice on the car. We know these tires are not the correct make, model, size tires. We have been looking to replace the older Dunlop tires on the car now with more original-like F70-15 Goodyear Speedway Wide Tread RWL redline tires from Universal Vintage Tire Co. or perhaps Diamond Back Tires.
Any help on decoding the age of the Dunlop tires on the car now is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
The Tire Identification Number for tires produced prior to 2000 was based on the assumption that tires would not be in service for ten years. While they were required to provide the same information as today's tires, the week and year the tire was produced was contained in the last three digits. The 2 digits used to identify the week a tire was manufactured immediately preceded a single digit used to identify the year.
Example of a tire manufactured before 2000 with the earlier Tire Identification Number format:
In the example above: DOT EJ8J DFM 408 DOT EJ8J DFM 408
Manufactured during the 40th week of the year DOT EJ8J DFM 408
Manufactured during the 8th year of the decade
While the previous Tire Identification Number format identified that a tire was built in the 8th year of a decade, there was no universal identifier that confirmed which decade (tires produced in the 1990s may have a small triangle following the Tire Identification Number to identify the decade).
And finally, hold on to your sales receipt. Most tire manufacturer's warranties cover their tires for four years from the date of purchase or five years from the week the tires were manufactured. So if you purchase new tires that were manufactured exactly two years ago they will be covered for a total of six years (four years from the date of purchase) as long as you have your receipt. If you lose your receipt, your tires' warranty coverage will end five years from the week the tire was produced (resulting in the tire manufacturer's warranty coverage ending only three years from the date of purchase in this example).
Tires Manufactured Since 2000
Since 2000, the week and year the tire was produced has been provided by the last four digits of the Tire Identification Number with the 2 digits being used to identify the week immediately preceding the 2 digits used to identify the year.
Example of a tire manufactured since 2000 with the current Tire Identification Number format:
In the example above: DOT U2LL LMLR 5107 DOT U2LL LMLR 5107
Manufactured during the 51st week of the year DOT U2LL LMLR 5107
Manufactured during 2007
While the entire Tire Identification Number is required to be branded onto one sidewall of every tire, current regulations also require that DOT and the first digits of the Tire Identification Number must also be branded onto the opposite sidewall. Therefore, it is possible to see a Tire Identification Number that appears incomplete and requires looking at the tire's other sidewall to find the entire Tire Identification Number
Here is the code information off the back of one of the tires:
Dunlop Radial GT Qualifier 00 13 46 DOT DAUT A13 and then an oval stamp with 231 on the inside of the stamp. Tires are P255 / 60R15 102S
Wow - if 231 is really the date stamp (which it appears to be), then these are from 1991. Definitely get those off the road - fiberglass repair after a tire blowout is way more expensive than a new set of tires.
this is what happens the steel wires do a great job on the fenders. my friends car, tire blew on the highway, luckey he never goes over 60 mph, lots of damage
UTOG/ DOT tire code= first two digits of four= weeks in the year 01= first week jan 52 last week of decemebr. Then the last two digits of the year.
Unkahal
That's only for tires made since 2000. Before that the code was 3 digits (first two were the week, and the last was the 'year in the decade' (1 = 71, 81 or 91).
Wow - if 231 is really the date stamp (which it appears to be), then these are from 1991. Definitely get those off the road - fiberglass repair after a tire blowout is way more expensive than a new set of tires.
Thank you everyone for the details and the quick response. My son and I have had this on-going (mostly from his Dad) discussion about replacing the tires just from the fact that we have had the car 10-years and we had no idea how old the tires were when we bought the car in 2009. Based on the decode information from BLUE1972, I'm pretty confident now that these are 23 Week (early June) of 1991. 28-years old!!! Holy Cow, has to be some kind of record and way past dangerous to drive. Agree with bradleyb66 that damage in fiberglass repair will be much worse than the cost of new tires.... and the pictures from BLUE1972 shows it all. Hard to argue with pictures.
Thanks again guys. I'll print this information and the photos off and take the conversation up again about the necessity of replacing tires with radials before we drive Black Betty again.
My friends 81 has approximately $8k damage from the tire blowing. If you look at the tires that failed, there is most likely less than 3k miles on them, they are like new. He thinks he got them in 2001.
Also be aware that most tire companies are saying 8 to 10 years max on tires and Michelin is saying replace at 8 years.
Use a reputable shop, a club member just got tires from a "wholesale" tire outlet and they are already 2.5 years old. For most of us it a time thing not a mileage thing for replacing tires.
My 72 is a low mile car and I have the original spare - it looks perfect, I would never put over #10 of air in it. It was never used. It will never be used.
Tire Decoding - Age
In the example above:
In the example above:
