Your New Tires---And What Retailers May Not be Telling You
Posted: Sunday, December 07, 2008
by Sandra E. Graham
My Books and Articles
Laughing and joking the two young men loaded one's father's van with suitcases and supplies. A fabulous road trip to Canada loomed on the horizon. A graduation gift trip financed by their parents, their excitement rode high.
No one dreamed that it would be the last time that the parent's would see one of the young men alive. A shredded tire, a vehicle rolling over and over down an embankment, would end a life that had hardly begun. It seems that this may be a scene played out more often than we realize across our great country and even the world.
An unsuspecting consumer public may well be putting too much faith in tire retailers to supply them with a safe product. Tires that sit on a store shelf for many years may end up on your car as new and you will never know until you or someone in your family becomes a statistic like so many other unwary individuals.
When purchasing a set of tires, most people assume they are getting new tires when they ask for and pay for new tires. New and Never been used can actually mean two different things. Just how new are new tires? Not many retailers will tell you, but then, most people don't know to ask. If you go in to a store and say, "I want a set of new tires", you rightfully assume that that is what you will get. Not necessarily.
Shelf life of a tire should not be over six years, but many tires are sold that have been around for many, many more. One thing that the average consumer doesn't know is how to find the true age of a tire. If you look around the inside edge (near the rim) of a tire, you will find a long list of numbers and letters. At the end of this row you will find a set of numbers enclosed in a circle that represents the week and year of the tire's manufacture. This will tell you just how old your new tire really is. Tread on tires that have set on the shelf for too long can dry out or rot, causing the tread to peel when being subjected to road wear. This peeling away of the tread causes many accidents around the world every year. The Great Britain government has gone so far as to restrict shelf life of tires by retailers to six years.
Until such restrictions are enforced in all countries, consumers everywhere need to be made aware of this problem and when buying tires, everyone should pay close attention to the date stamped on each tire before they allow it to be placed on their vehicle. Our lives and the lives of our children could very well depend on this awareness. Don't take anything for granted. Some salesmen may not even be aware of the problem themselves and base their sales pitch on the tread thickness of the tire and the fact that the tire ‘has never been used.' Don't allow them to convince you that the tire is new and safe until you have checked the date for yourself.
Be Safe, Don't be a statistic.
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Sandra E. Graham, author, AMOS JAKEY and NICOLINA published by American Book Publishing. I also write book reviews for authors through Book Pleasures. Visit my website for more information on my books that are in print now and reviews I have written.
http://www.sandragraham-articles-books.com
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Thanks for the insightful article. Very, very informative. I recently purchased a set of four all season tires. I too assumed that the tires were "brand new". I will check for the dates on the tires as soon as I can possibly do so. Thanks for the heads up. Tire dealerships and automotive dealerships should be aware of this situation and keep a close watch on the stock they are selling to the buying (unwary) public. Again it's a matter of Buyer Beware.Thank you, Gerry, for reading and commenting. This is something that I just recently learned myself. I went right out to the garage and checked the date on our van's tires. We were told they were new when we put them on---turns out that they were.Thanks again.Sandra
Wow- thanks for this helpful information. I would add that you might want to check the date on tires you get with new cars as well, and the quality. My last new car- almost 10 years ago- had three of the four tires bulge or otherwise become useless well before they were worn. After three flat tires I never gave the fourth one a chance.Good point, Val. Thanks for reading and commenting.Have a great week.Sandra
I watched an investigative report of TV recently regarding this subject. It's mind-boggling that it is even legal to sell these tires. Did you know that in the airline industry, the life vests that are onboard every aircraft have to be replaced at specific intervals? Not because they have been used, because most are never used, but because the rubber materials in them deteriorate over time. Why isn't this same policy enforced in the tire industry?It is certainly something that needs to be brought to the consumer public's attention more often that it is. I had just heard it myself a few days ago.Thanks for reading and Commenting, David.Sandra
Sandra, I wrote to this eons ago. It is all about money nothing else and all tires, for the most part come out of China except for a very few . It allows them to say theyare an "America Company" yea, right. Good job as usual. PS: check the very fine print on every tire. It tells you the country of manufacture . But beware you need magnification.Yeah, I know about magnification--my husband and I both have trouble reading the 'fine' print on our tires. As far as 'made in China', even the company that I used to work for brought in parts from their Chinese plant and repacked them as made in USA.Thanks for reading and commenting, Robert.Sandra
hi sandra,it seems there are so many things to be aware of in this life, i wonder how our brains can function. this was a very helpful article for those of us who didn't know the info before. now, to make room for it in this brain:) thanks for sharing,my best to you,sueThanks so much, Sue. Yes, we may all eventually go on over-load and crash and burn from too many facts.Have a great week.Sandra
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