Tire dating (2013)

No, not that kind of dating! I have a very lightly used TT100 Dunlop with a date code of ND2463?? Looks to be OK as far as the sidewalls, no cracks or hardening, but I'd really like to know how old it is before mounting it or dinging it. Everything I've found so far tells me is was made in the 24th week of ????

I think you'd have to inquire with Dunlop to translate the code if not online. But age is a relative thing in people and tires, some preserved in better conditions so about good a new though years old. There are no garantee's in life but some of the tires I've gotten full mileage out of were obvious use heated or aged hardend and begining to show cracks. Not dangerous as long as you know not to race around on it like new heated rubber and likely more bouncy to upset handling some if going fast enough to attract police attention, but can lower air some to compensate a good bit of that too. If inside of tire is smooth then what you worry about is a good tube and put on a new tire later, to appreciate the smoother more secure feeling ride. I've sworn off 100 size tires or would pay ya some to use it up. If you tend to ride to traction limits in rain and into unknown turns then better toss it for brand new, so any crashes can't be blamed on the bad tires.

I had one set of tires just for initial run in and getting used to riding again that were actually shiny hard a nail wouldn't indent, but had some ice traction spray and tried that and sure enough it softened the surface a good bit till worn to fresher normal hard tire.

By far though the main downside to hardened tires is the bounce backs that feeds into isolastics to induce the hinge easier and then harder to tame down.

http://www.google.com/#output=search&sc ... 33&bih=410

Try this link to help with tire dating:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/ ... ?techid=11

Very useful thread thank you!

Question: If you purchase a set of say Dunlop TT100's and they are almost two years old by date code on day of receipt from a vendor, is that too much time to have elapsed to consider them to be "new" tires? I understand storage is everything, but do you have a threshold or expectation you apply to purchase of new tires?

Your in minutiae...

Using old new tyres that have been store right in a well ventilated area and out of any light will preserve for many years and when used will work very well, my mate use to buy tyres throw one set on the bike and the other set under his bed for next time, he did this for his dirk bikes as well his road bike, he always said storing his tyres under the bed for sometime he got better mileage out of them when he put them on, he always replace the spare tyres under his beds.

Ashley

“Using old new tyres that have been store right in a well ventilated area and out of any light ”

Half right. Out of direct sunlight is correct.
Wrapped in a plastic bag and NOT well ventilated is the right answer.

The first two digits repsresent the week of the year (01-52) and the second two digits represent the year. 2463 would be the 24th week of 1963, so that tire is ancient. Tires more than 5 years old are suspect and should be observed closely as they are used, if at all.

MikeG said:

I have a very lightly used TT100 Dunlop with a date code of ND2463??

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Danno said:

The first two digits repsresent the week of the year (01-52) and the second two digits represent the year. 2463 would be the 24th week of 1963, so that tire is ancient.

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Only, there were no TT100s before 1968/69.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TT100_(motorcycle_tyre)

Pre-2000 tyres have a three-digit code. (Edit: If they have a date code)

https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/how-to-determine-the-age-of-your-tires
"For tires manufactured before the year 2000

The date of manufacture is the last three digits of the code. The first two digits refer to the week within that year. For example, if the last 3 digits are 022, it means that the tire was manufactured in the second week of the year, and the year is the second year of the decade. This is where it gets confusing -- there’s no universal identifier that signifies which decade, so in this example the tire could have been manufactured in 1982 or 1992. Some tires do have a small triangle following the DOT code to indicate the 1990s."


As it says, a tyre made in the 1990s can have a small tranglular marking.

Dunlop TT100 manufactured in week 42, 1998:

ashman said:

Using old new tyres that have been store right in a well ventilated area and out of any light will preserve for many years and when used will work very well, my mate use to buy tyres throw one set on the bike and the other set under his bed for next time, he did this for his dirk bikes as well his road bike, he always said storing his tyres under the bed for sometime he got better mileage out of them when he put them on, he always replace the spare tyres under his beds.

Ashley

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I think he was trying to get better mileage out of his bed.

Steves said:

I think he was trying to get better mileage out of his bed.

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You probably right there, well everyone has their own ideas in what they do and it seemed to work all good for him at the time.

Ashley

concours said:

“Using old new tyres that have been store right in a well ventilated area and out of any light ”

Half right. Out of direct sunlight is correct.
Wrapped in a plastic bag and NOT well ventilated is the right answer.

Click to expand...

Well I was only saying what my mate did with his tyres and it seemed to work for him, its bad enough buying one set of tyres at a time for my bikes.

Ashley

A 19-year-old tire would still be classified as ancient IMO.