help with tire age

It is the 4 digit code showing the week and the year of manufacture, looks like week 17 of 2005.
Hope this helps

Cheers

G'day Allein,
I think the 1705 means it was made on the 17th week of 2005?

I was in one of the tyre places a few weeks ago & I asked about using the brand new 14 yr old tyre in the boot of my daughters car & he reckoned it was fine to use it.
When I said that I thought it was unsafe to use being that age his exact words were "that's just a myth in order to sell you a new tyre".

He did say this only applies to tyres that have spent their life in the dark area of a car boot & not when they are kept in the sunshine on the rear wheel carrier of a 4wd.

Cheers
Stu

Could you put a tube in it and still be able to use it if it's not showing signs of cracking etc.

17th week of 2005. 9 year old tyre...ditch it. The rubber will have lost its elasticity, therefore grip and flexibility gone. Tyres are cheap. A spare tyre when used should be of good quality like those on your car. I recently good rid of 3 tyres on a trailer that were made in 2005 as well. 13 inch and on a 4 stud rim. When I dropped one on its tread from about 2 feet....it did everything but bounce back up!!!Dull thud, air pressure good, but was well out of its use by date. I can remember reading somewhere that 5 years is about the time frame for tyres. True or not...its not only your life and vehicle but other road users as well.

Tyre is correct in Australia

allein m

Look up "rubber oxidation" on the net and you will get some idea of what the problem is. There is a brief overview of it on the bottom of this page an it looks like you can see a lot more on it if you are a member of the site. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ie50196a011

That is just one small part of a lot more information you can look up on the subject.

I noticed Collyn Rivershttp://www.caravanandmotorhomebooks.com/about_the_author.html said recently on the caravaner's forum that, " Many tyre companies suggest that five years is the realistic maximum life for a used tyre and about seven for one that is in regular use."

I have heard the same thing said in recent years on everything from TV programs to net forums as more people become aware of it.

Just out of interest, I saw a Falcon blow a rear tyre about 50 metres in front of me on a Sydney freeway at around 110 kph a couple of years ago. The car swung violently sideways with bits of rubber flying everywhere. The driver did an outstanding job of bringing it back under control. He must have had the driving skills of Brockie.

It is not worth taking a risk with old tyres. They maybe fine for around town driving at suburban speeds but not out on the highways or freeways with full loads on hot days at the speeds you are likely to be doing in a Falcon.

Ok thanks for your help I have replaced the rear tyres with 2 brand new supercats and the left hand rear which has 50% tread and no leaks made 2011 is the new spare

The right hand one that was the problem with the slow leak had two nails in it so it really was not worth $50 to get fixed because of very little tread and poor condition.

so the original spare which is too old was also put in the bin

So I hope hoping to use the spare but not safe to do so and I feel a lot safer with two brand new tyres that were correctly fitted