Ancient Tires?
 

Tires on 1989 I recently bought look like they have virtually no wear on them, but a tire code of 459 lurks on the sidewall. Best I can tell, this is from late 1999!! If someone would correct me on this assumption, I would be forever grateful. I have no real history on the car, but the serpentine belt had a 1995 date on it ( and wasn't really worn or cracked) so I think decades of sitting may have been this car's fate. In my defense, the date code was only on the inside tire sidewall, so couldnt really see it without taking the tires off, at least on the rears.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...3a4d14d64.jpeg

Id be curious to know too if that '9' means '99'. At any rate, even if it were 2019, unlikely, theyre due for replacement. I come from a database background. Went through the Y2K problem. This would have been from that same era - It seems industries still hadn't learned to use at a minimum a 2 digit year :)

Yeah, I figure they are done for one way or the other, which is a shame because they look to have less than 500 miles wear on them. The car does drive like it has 4 circular hunks of cement on each corner, so they're toast. Road expansion joints feel a bit like cinder blocks driving across them.

The digit code is week and year so it’s 45 week of 89 or 99
dont drive on those tires. I got a set from 99 that look brand new but aren’t
post 2000 they went to 4 digit code

Heads up, Discount Tire is going to be having or has started a Labor Day sale. You can really stack deals if you play your hand right with their website...online rebates, DT rebates for brands, certain makes have mail in rebates, their credit card, ID.me, etc.

Hope it helps and yep, I would guess 1999 for those and spare probably 1989. Just had to go through this on an old Ford 4.9 truck I picked up that sat 15 years. Safety first.

https://www.goodyear.com/en_US/learn...date-code.html

Is there no series of numbers that are 4 digits somewhere on the tire? If not, could be 1979, 1989 or 1999. If that be the case, they are probably hard as a plastic hula-hoop and will slide into the next county upon heavy braking.

Pre 2000 tires only had 3 digits

first 2 digits = week
last one = last digit of yr of manufacture

Well, alrighty then. :lol:
Could this be wrong?
https://www.cokertire.com/tires/styl...ic-70s/17.html

45th week of 89 or 99……Time for some new rubber my friend. 5 years is the max I go on tires.

The struggle is real. Took new tires and old wheels to tire store today. Dropped them off in the morning and picked them up this afternoon. Went to bolt them up and noticed all four are mounted backwards…instructions were given at drop off. Guess I know what I’m doing again tomorrow.

Well that just plain out sucks. Do you have a mobile installer near you? I use one for all my cars. Clean and easy and the price is good. I’m such a nice guy I even take the wheels off my C4 for them lol.

Back to good old Discount Tire this morning where they swapped them for me in about half an hour. . Its always something...lol.