I recently acquired a car with some nice wide whitewalls. I'm trying to figure out how old they are but the DOT code has me stymied because it doesn't follow the convention that I'm used to seeing. Here it is in its entirety: DOT UPVV CA7054 A6L The tire is The Untouchable by Cooper Size G78-15 Thanks!
January of 1994, 1984, 1974 ....... Prior to 2000 only three digits were used so you can't determine the decade. But at best 1994
Yeah, I know the 3 digit thing for dates prior to 2000 but this has four digits. The one pictured has 7044 while the other three tires are labeled 7054. So should I ignore the 7 and ***ume the tires were manufactured in the 4th and 5th weeks of '74, '84, or '94?
It is four digits 7044 and 7054. Bad ju-ju indeed, they will be replaced. I just can't figure out what's the deal with a four digit code that makes no sense.
Alpha numeric tire sizes went away in the late seventies to early eighties. I would say 84 at the latest.
How about we take DOTs word that only three digit codes were used prior to 2000, instead of yours? No offense.
No offense taken, I'm just trying to figure it out. All examples that I've seen prior to 2000 use a three digit code, that's it, three numbers total in the code. I've seen nothing that shows four numbers as part of the sequence. Yet, on these tires, there are clearly four consecutive digits as part of the code. It's odd and not doubt, the tires are really old. As BobMcD mentioned, the size code died early on so we know we're dealing with something prior to 2000 and more likely from the mid-80s.
I did a google search for tire codes. There are many to choose from. Here's the one I used as I recently bought tires from these guys. Hope it helps! http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11
Four digits indeed would indicate a post 2000 tire. If that were the case, the post 2000 code would indicate these tires are from 1944 and 1954 respectively. That's highly unlikely, so back to the question of why are there four numbers on a pre-2000 tire? Yeah, I'll do some more investigation, I thought that maybe someone here had seen something like this before.
Yes, the Tire Rack info is the first place I turned. They pretty much state the standard rule of thumb that tires which predate 2000 use a three digit code. The first two digits indicating the week of the year and the last indicating the year within the decade. Supposedly, they didn't start using four digits until 2000. Other indicators such as the obsolete size would indicate the tire is from pre-2000 but there are still four digits in the code and they don't match up to the date sequencing. It's odd.
So I went to the source, Cooper Tire to find out exactly how old these tires are. Because of the age, the information was not on their computer system so they had to go to the company library to find out. Turns out that these tires were manufactured between 1974-1982. So that means they are between 33-41 years old! One thing for sure, they're getting replaced before this car comes out of winter storage! Thanks everyone!
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