Old tires (more than 5 years old) are sold as “new”, because the outside tread looks untouched. However, tires, like milk, have a shelf life after which they can be dangerous — even deadly — for drivers. For instance, an ABC News investigative team found some Walmart stores selling 12 year old tires as “new.”
The next time you buy tires, make sure you know how to read the code on the side of the product.
Numbers engraved in rubber on a tire wall will tell you when they were made. Many are easy to see on the outside, but sometimes companies put this number on the inside of the tire.
This ABC news video from 2008 demonstrates how to decode the jumble of numbers on a tire to decipher when the tire was made.
Watch below, or at ABC News…
