Tires age

[Hillmann]

At what age are tires considered past there useful life? I have a chance to get a nearly new set of matching snow tires (my car is AWD so any used tires I put on it need to have equal wear) for about 1/4 the price of new. But they were made in 2007 so are over 5 years old.

[ssrjim]

From what I've seen and read 6 years. That is from when they are made not installed

[GuitarPhotog]

I had a tire fail because of age, it was 11 years old. In Calif. tire dealers are not allowed to repair (i.e., fix flats) in tires over 5 years old. All tires have an age code, new ones on the front, older tires it's on the back.

Search here on TnTTT for the key to the age code.

<Chas>

[Hillmann]

Looks like I may pass on these tires unless I can get her to come down on her price. I often put junkyard tires on my vehicles but they only cost $5 so I usually don't worry about there age. But with the Subaru I can't do that because they all have to have matching wear.