I was catching up with my feeds this morning, and came across a Consumerist post that really caught my attention. Did you know that tires have a shelf life? It stands to reason that they might, but I have certainly never worried about it. Evidently, the rubber begins to break down after six years, and the tires can then turn an otherwise perfectly safe vehicle into a rolling time bomb.

How can you tell if your tires’ shelf life has expired?

All tires bear a Department of Transportation number hidden on the inner wheel wall. At the end of the number is a four-digit sequence that shows the week and year the tire was made. Tires with the notation 3502 were made in the 35th week of 2002. If you only see three digits, get new tires immediately; your tires are from the 90′s and are way past their effective lifespan.

Sears and Walmart were two companies that The Consumerist outed for selling “expired” tires as new – some were as old as 12(!!!). I usually get my tires from Discount Tire or Tom’s Tire World, but who’s to say if their tires are “fresh” or not?

**Kudos to Ford Motor Company for asking the federal government to impose a six year age limit, or “expiration date” for tires.

How many of us will be inspecting codes when buying new tires from now on? I know I will be…

Link: The Consumerist

Update: I just checked the date on my truck’s tires, and they are from the 49th and 50th weeks of 2006. I bought them in early 2007, so that sounds about right. It takes just a few moments to check all four, so take a minute to check yours and let us know what you find!