Why would anyone want to determine the age of their Jeep tires? What difference does it make? I mean you can tell if you need new tires generally by looking at them or even by how they perform. Why do you need to know the exact age of them?
Well, some people just feel a need to know this type of thing. If you are one of those people and you feel like you need to know how to do this then just continue reading and I will tell you how to determine tire age.
Look at Your Tire
The easiest way to find out the tire age is to look at tire DOT numbers.
If you go to your vehicle and look at the tire you will find a DOT code somewhere on the tire. It is there but it may be difficult to find. These numbers are usually located on the tire sidewall, that’s why they are often referred to as tire sidewall codes. The code might be stamped into the rubber itself and so will not stand out as a different color would. These codes are there by law regardless if it is a Jeep Wrangler tire or a Cadillac tire. They are known as the DOT tire codes. What you are looking for is an alpha numeric code that will be between 10 and 12 characters long and begin with DOT. This code is the key to determining age of tire.
Deciphering the DOT number on tires
You will not need any tire DOT number decoder to understand it, as reading tire sidewall is not a rocket science. Let’s start at the beginning.
What does DOT number on tires mean? If you are thinking that stands for Department of Transportation you are correct. What it means is that the tire has gone through and passed the DOT’s rigorous safety tests.
- The next combination of letters will be representative of the factory where the tire was constructed.
- Those letters will be followed by a digit or two. Those digits represent the actual size of the tire. This tire ID number is really useful when purchasing a new set of tires. If you know it you’ll not be mistaken with tire size.
- Following the digits will be another series of letters. These letters stand for the tire manufacturer code. Note, that one manufacturer can use different numbers for its various brands.
- nally you will notice a series of four digits at the end of your code. These four digits are what you are essentially looking for, as they determine the age of a tire. The first two digits are the week in which the tire was made. How to tell what year a tire was made? Take a look at the last two digits. They stand for the year in which the tire was manufactured.
Variance
Some tires have a 10 digit code and some have a 12 digit code. Why do you think that is? It is simply because the factory code, and the manufacturer brand codes may vary. This is the reason for the variance in the length of the code. But if we need to find out the age of tire, the number of digits in factory or brand codes doesn’t really matter.
Now what?
Alright, now you know how to determine tire age. If you needed that information now you have it. The question is, now that you have the information, what are you going to do with it?
Also, read how to clean and polish wheels in our step-by-step guide.
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