How To Tell If Your Car Tyres Are Expired

It is a known fact that car tyres expire. Tyres are made of rubber and rubber degrades with age and temperature whether used or not.

Apparently, only few Nigerians were aware of the fact that vehicle tyres come with expiry dates. Some drivers, as Naijadriva observed, with years of driving experience do not know how to read the age of a tyre, thereby buying expired tires, whether new or fairly used ones. For the fairly used ones, even though you dont expect to buy one within four year life, you may see a driver buying a tire that expired since 2005!

According to Federal Road Safety Corps [FRSC], expired tyres account for a large number of road accidents nationwide.

So, how can one tell if one’s tyres have attained their expiry dates?

First, vehicle tyres have a 4-year validity period from their Date of Manufacture (DOM) (though some Safety groups in some countries recommends 6 years).

However, considering our peculiar rough driving terrains, and our temperate climate, it makes a whole lot of sense to agree with the FRSC recommended 4 years.
After the period of validity, the tyres risk getting burst while in use, especially when running in hot weather.

So, to find out if your tyres are expired – first, look on the sidewall, or the surface of the tyre, you would find a stamp that looks thus: (*4708*).
There is an asterisk at the beginning and at the end of this number (although some tyres don’t have asterisks).

The last four numbers identify the date of manufacture of the tyre to the nearest week. That is, the first two digits represent the week of manufacture, while the last two digits represents the year of manufacture.

So, in this case (*4708*), the tyre was manufactured on the 47th week in 2008.
Thus, the expiry date would be the 47th week of 2012 ( that is, 4 years from date of manufacture)
So with this knowledge, and for safety purpose, it is important for us to regularly check on our vehicle tyres.