Are These Tires Good, Or Dangerous ???
I got this clip of an ABC News report earlier today, so i thought I'd pass it onto you, along with a little advice. Now, I claim to be an expert in politics, but compared to automotive knowledge, I'm an idiot in politics. It's the one thing most people take my word on....
Now, I'm not a big fan of the expose' type news story. Most of them are out there to scare the shit out of people, so I don't ascribe to them often. So, I'll leave the clip here for you to watch if you want, but here are a few tips for all of you about your tires.
Safetywise, your tires are the most important piece of equipment on your car, hands down. They're a 1/2 inch thick layer of protection that keeps you flying off of the road at 70 MPH. A blown tire can absolutely send you off the side of the road, with no time to react. In short, bad tires are dangerous....
Why? Like you know, tires are made of rubber. It has a certain amount of elasticity and moisture in it's tread. Over time the tire will lose the moisture and it's flexibility - what we call Dry Rot. This often starts to show after 4 or 5 years. You'll begin to see some slight cracking on the sidewall and tread. Regardless of mileage, once it starts cracking, you need new tires. Of course, most people wear the tread out from mileage before this happens, so many people are unaware of this problem.
There's no official age to replace tires, but a good rule of thumb is six years. How can you tell how old your tires are? Check your DOT number. I know...... WTF is the DOT number. It's an ID number on the sidewall, and it starts with DOT. It tells you where and when it was built. The last 4 numbers are what you are looking for. It gives you the week and year it was made, thus a tire that reads "2506" means it was made in the 25th week of 2006. Some are only three numbers, which means it was made before 2000, and hence, you need new tire regardless....
One last word of advice: be careful where you buy tires. A Mom & Pop gas station that sells three sets of tires a year is more likely to have old tires than your dealership or major tire store. Here is the clip from ABC News. One thing to note: the people they show are those who have really old tires - nine years or more, so someone wasn't doing their job. That's why I get the big bucks, right?
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