Hello guys, I have a set of old Michelin X tires on my car. I know they are not original, but I'm trying to find out how old they are. (I wont drive on them, just curious to the age) Anyone know if anything on the tire can give me clues? THANK YOU!
Look for the DOT #. The last 4 digits will be the week & the year the tire was built. ie: DOT xxxx xxxx xxxx 3703. this tire would have been built the 37th week of 2003.
Yes, they are beat and will be replaced. I'm just trying to find out their vintage... (since it's a race car, I don't want to toss them if they figure into when the car was used for racing).
agree with Pork, it's risky to drive around town with tires like that because of a possible blowout. I don't think vintage tires are like vintage wine. Dig your avatar
I wouldn't even drive them around the block. I just want to place the age. and the last one.... Anyone have a guess ???
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11 This link covers both pre-2000 and 2000 and newer
I understand where you are going with this. I originally thought that you were trying to decide if they were any good. Let me go back and see what the fella was saying about date codes and see what I can figure out. I can't make heads or tails out of them if I go by the information that we have been given. If I were to go by the sizing I would have to say that they are a tire from the early '70s. the reason i say that is that they don't have a metric size and by the later '70s they had gone to metric sizing on them.
I know for sure they are between 1959-1972. I know that's a huge window and doesn't help much. I tried the tirerack, but the code doesn't work out right.
mid to late 60's based on the size and the look of the sidewall. Friends dad bought a set in that era and the look the same. KK
The current tire date code started life in the 90's. If you call the manufacturer they will not likely be very helpful due to the huge liability litigation industry that they want to stay very clear of. I once called the zone office for Dodge to get some info and was transferred to an obvious lawyer... .
he is trying to do some historical detective work on an old race car he has and using the current tires on it as a point of reference. The first set of Michelin X radials I remember were a new set I bought for my mom in '71. long story don't even ask.
Thanks for the information for figuring out when the tire was made. That is the type of use full information that every car crazy person needs to know. Jimbo
This photo is from 1962. So that's gotta close the window a little more. The car has roughly 30K original miles. In 1962 the wheels were widened for bigger tires... so the set shown are brand new in the photo. The set on the car now has to be the "NEXT" set of tires after this photo. That means the set on the car now are probably right where you guys are guessing... 1965-1970'ish. That's good enough for me. THANKS GUYS!
These tires have spent almost all of their life in a dark corner of a storage building. and they look to be in much better shape than the tires I have on my F-6 currently which are only about 6-7 years old. Not sure if I'll run these or not yet, there probably better than running a widow maker wheel... I know, not exactly a hot rod tire... but wanted to put them on a 38 ford COE
yep, I know. I was pretty excited to get those wheels, then the tires were just the icing on the cake! I'm running lock rings on my 52 F6. and on my 53 C600 they work good.
Instructions <SECTION> Tires Manufactured Before 2000 1Locate the Tire Identification Number on the rubber area of the tire. 2Isolate the last three numbers. 3Note the first two digits of the last three. These numbers represent the week that the tire was manufactured. 4Divide these digits by four, and convert the result to months of the year. For example, if the first two of the three digits are "07," divide by four to get 1 with a remainder of three. That means the tire was manufactured about three weeks after the first month of the year (January), which would mean it was manufactured in approximately the third week of February. 5Note the last digit. This represents the year of the 1990s that the tire was manufactured. If the last digit is 7, the tire was manufactured in 1997. Tires Manufactured Since 2000 6Locate the Tire Identification Number on the rubber area of the tire. 7Isolate the last four numbers. 8Note the first two digits of the last four. These numbers represent the week that the tire was manufactured. 9Divide these digits by four, and convert the result to months of the year. For example, if the digits are "07," divide by four to get 1 with a remainder of three. That means the tire was manufactured about three weeks after the first month of the year (January), which would mean it was manufactured in approximately the third week of February. 10Note the last two digits. These represents the year that the tire was manufactured. For example, if the last two digits are 08, the tire was manufactured in 2008. </SECTION>
got these cool old slicks from an estate sale and was wondering what years these were used, also i got a pic with this stuff of a 32 ford drag racing that was dated 1952 and is running what could be these tires, heres the date code any idea what year that could be, no brand name and they were white walls painted over
Just read on another HAMB thread a guy is running 45-50 year old bias ply tires because he likes the look. At least they'll see his pink Lincoln coming before he kills someone.
Bias ply with a tube seem to hold up okay as long as you run enough air that the sidewalls don't go through too much flex. One of my Hudsons before I sold it I flat towed it a couple times and never did ever have to put air in the tires - which were on it when it was last registered in 1963. I was looking at this thread because I found a set of tires with a code M02R - they're Cooper radials and I'm sure they're too old to use, but I'm wondering just how old they are before I mount them up as rollers that will hold air.
All tires are good for five years, this also goes with your OT driver. On the other hand I have ran tires that where 20 Years old for about 5000km, and by the end the tread was ready to rip off the sidewall. But man did they look good on. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Around 1974, I recall little stickers that were on each new tire side wall. The salesman would peel them off and paste them into a log book they kept. About 1976, I recall more mumbo-jumbo appearing on tire sidewalls. A shot in the dark would to contact Michelin and see if they can decode them for you. Possibly an older established tire dealer may be able to help. Bob
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