How to tell exactly when a tyre was manufactured

There are basically two codes which you are likely to encounter:

1. Tyres manufactured before 2000 – A three digit code was used, which stated the week of the decade it was manufactured. For example a code of 148 means the tyre was manufactured in the 14th week of the 8th year of the decade. This code assumed that a tyre would not be in service for more than a decade so you know that it was made in the 8th year of the decade, but it does not state which decade that was. So in our example the year may have been 1968 or 1978 or 1998 etc. A key point here is that it is recommended that a tyre should be replaced after 6 years no matter how much it has been used. So you are best to steer clear of buying tyres which were manufactured before then.

2. Tyres manufactured after 2000 – The code was extended to four digits but the format is mostly the same. The first two digits stated which week of the year it was made and the last two digits specify the year. For example a code of 2109 means the tyre was manufactured in the 21st week of 2009.