New tires old date question

[HoosierRich]

So I pulled the trigger and bought some new BFG MT KM3's today from Discount tire.

BUT!! upon looking when I got home I noticed the date code of two tires is 3418, that's August of 2018 or almost two years ago.
Should I accept this? Doesn't seem right to me.
(

 

[AMS417]

No big deal. BFG warranties them for 6 years from date of purchase not date of production. They likely set inside a building the entire time, out of the UV light that does the most damage to rubber.

Congrats on buying an awesome tire by the way!

 

[Flivver250]

Where I am lving, any tire four years of age or older will fail inspection. Condition is irrelevant. They are probably fine. The place in Florida where I bought my last two sets of tires paid close attention to the dates before they got them from the distributor. I did not have to point it out.

 

[AndyG]

Nice Rubi.

This brings to mind a lady bought a used tire in Louisiana..it was 22 years old. I learned this from her lawyer.

Bad deal.

 

[HoosierRich]

No big deal. BFG warranties them for 6 years from date of purchase not date of production. They likely set inside a building the entire time, out of the UV light that does the most damage to rubber.

Congrats on buying an awesome tire by the way!

Thanks, that's good to know. These tires will likely age out before they wear out as I likely wont be putting
more than a couple thousand miles a year on them, but notice even Discount won't mount tires older than 6 yrs old. That would mean these tires are almost a third of the way through its life span by that standard. That is my worry.

 

[AndyG]

Thanks, that's good to know. These tires will likely age out before they wear out as I likely wont be putting
more than a couple thousand miles a year on them, but notice even Discount won't mount tires older than 6 yrs old. That would mean these tires are almost a third of the way through its life span by that standard. That is my worry.

....Of course the entire Jeep is at least 14 years old ....you aren't going to sleep a wink now. (I'm channeling Mr. Blaine, just messing with you )

 

[AMS417]

Thanks, that's good to know. These tires will likely age out before they wear out as I likely wont be putting
more than a couple thousand miles a year on them, but notice even Discount won't mount tires older than 6 yrs old. That would mean these tires are almost a third of the way through its life span by that standard. That is my worry.

They have great customer service. If you are concerned, call them and ask. I have the luck to work for a distribution company. I ask the order picker to pull a matched set when I get tires, cause I am a nerd. I just put a fresh set of KO2 on my Jeep. DOT was late 2019. Most stuff will be 6 month to 1 year. Less than 2 years isn't uncommon. So many tires sizes now, we have to stock a broad and deep inventory. When I ran a DC we would carry $6-8 million in inventory.

 

[HoosierRich]

....Of course the entire Jeep is at least 14 years old ....you aren't going to sleep a wink now. (I'm channeling Mr. Blaine, just messing with you )

I'll sleep fine...but tires are expensive! and I want to make sure I get the value out of them, thanks for the compliment, I just picked up this 06 TJR about 3 weeks ago.

 

[HoosierRich]

They have great customer service. If you are concerned, call them and ask. I have the luck to work for a distribution company. I ask the order picker to pull a matched set when I get tires, cause I am a nerd. I just put a fresh set of KO2 on my Jeep. DOT was late 2019. Most stuff will be 6 month to 1 year. Less than 2 years isn't uncommon. So many tires sizes now, we have to stock a broad and deep inventory. When I ran a DC we would carry $6-8 million in inventory.

That does makes sense with so many sizes and styles to have a huge inventory to run through. The other two tires were date coded 1419 which didn't bother me as much.

 

[Zorba]

I love Discount Tire, my local franchise is fantastic. This one, at least, will mount/work on tires up to 10 years old, but no older. BUT - they are in the business of selling tires.

I purchased a new set of 5 for my '85 Mercedes in 2015. One of the old ones was original to the car - and actually looked fine and had "some" tread left. But this was in cold California, it had had an easy life.

 

[L J]

Should I accept this?

take them back and offer either an exchange for newer tires or a prorated refund

 

[Viking Jeeper]

Not a fan of Discount Tire. Recently I was there getting a flat fixed and overheard a conversation they were having with a elderly gentleman. They told him his tires in very good shape needed to be replaced because they were over 6 years old. They said "Michelin recommends replacement over 6 years". They made the sale. I later looked at Michelin's website, it said 10 years.

 

[MutantNinjaTJ]

Discount is what it is, you can let them tell you what is what or you can tell them how you want it to be. I rolled out of there a year ago with (4) 33" KM3"s mounted, balanced, warranty's and tax for $1024.00 I was pretty happy with that deal and they still run smooth as new.

 

[pagrey]

Do what you think is safe, they are your tires.

Date codes are put on tires to track when and where they are made so they can be recalled if they are defective and not so you can see how old they are. Tire companies are the main people that tell you that they need to be replaced at a certain age, it sells more tires. The NTSB tracks all the data in accidents regarding tires and as far as I know there isn't a single state or federal law that has requires checks of consumer tire age. I don't think there are even DOT rules, it's just lawyers that come up with that stuff. Several states have laws regarding tread depth and several have rules for checking pressure. These are things that have been shown to be a factor is accidents. It is my opinion that there would be concrete requirements in at least a few states if there was any correlation between tire age and accidents.

Personally I bought used tires extensively when I was younger. I'd buy a set and blow through them in an afternoon at the track. All I cared about was low tread wear numbers so I knew they'd stick. When I got my Jeep I was given a set of 7 old BFG KMs some of which were cracked and ugly. I used them on and off road for over 5 years down to 5 psi on the trail. Even lost a bead, big surprise at that pressure but I personally never had a issue. Just trying to give perspective why I'm not too worried when I hear about tires 2 years old out of the gate.

If anybody wanted the end consumer to care about those dates they would appear just like they do on a container of milk. As I said in the beginning, your tires, your safety.

 

[il buono]

Two years isn't bad for a new set. A month ago I finally ditched the Wrangler MT/Rs that came with my LJ when I bought it last November. All 5 tires were from 2006 and the spare was never used lol

I knew I was rolling the dice with tires that old, but there was still decent amount of tread left and no cracking anywhere. I was holding off waiting to get a set of ravines alongside new tires, but no luck. With the AZ heat now here, I didn't want to wait for new tires any longer.

 

[HoosierRich]

Just an update-
Called my local Discount Tire today and they almost immediately offered to order two new tires to replace the 3418 date code. They did say they are in short supply and it will be 10 weeks, but I consider it excellent customer service as they didn't squabble at all and told me they usually don't like to sell new tires that old.

 

[AMS417]

See, awesome service. What size are they? I can check BFG back order status. 10 weeks, that sounds like a long time, but it could be they are completely out of stock in the Michelin warehouse and waiting for production.

 

[HoosierRich]

265/75r16

 

[JEEPCJTJ]

Just an update-
Called my local Discount Tire today and they almost immediately offered to order two new tires to replace the 3418 date code. They did say they are in short supply and it will be 10 weeks, but I consider it excellent customer service as they didn't squabble at all and told me they usually don't like to sell new tires that old.

That's great news...for you.

Now what about the person that ends up with them when they are even closer to 2 yrs old?

Seriously, if they'll make the trade that is great. I still have 4 tires and my son has 6 that are too old to have come with a date. No they're not taken on the freeway but my son's do go to various "close" places.

Where I am lving, any tire four years of age or older will fail inspection.

Inspections pretty much suck to begin with, Crap like that is just extra dog crap on the dessert they're handing out and charging us for.

 

[HoosierRich]

That's great news...for you.

Now what about the person that ends up with them when they are even closer to 2 yrs old?

I'm not sure, but I will be driving on them over the next 10 weeks they said it would take to get new ones in, so I doubt they will be able to be resold as new.