Are your motorcycle tyres giving you trouble? This could be for a variety of reasons – one of them being that your tyres have gotten too old. As a precaution, even the most reliable tyres should be changed after every 6 years, even if they appear to be in good condition. This is usually because the inside of the tyre develops rot and other damage you can’t see.
Not sure how old your tyres are? Here is how you can read your motorcycle tyre age in just 5 seconds:
- Check the outer sidewall of your tyre for the acronym DOT – it will be followed by a series of numbers
- Look at the last 4 numbers: the first 2 indicate the week and the last 2 indicate the year
And that’s it! The first 2 numbers will tell you which week the tyre was manufactured in, i.e. at the start, middle, or end of the month, while the last 2 will tell you the year. So, for example, 1215 means the tyre was manufactured at the start of the year 2015. This small guide will give you a better idea of the week:
- Numbers 1-20 are at the beginning of the year
- Numbers 21- 30 are in the middle of the year
- Numbers 31-52 are at the end of the year
Want a more specific date? Divide the number of weeks by 4.3. So, going back to our example, 12 divided by 4.3 is 2.79; rounding that gives us 3, which means that the tyre was manufactured in March 2015! Don’t believe me? Check a calendar yourself.
Now that you’ve found out the age of your tyre, what’s next? Well, if it’s above the age of 6 years, it’s probably time to change the tyre and get yourself a brand new pair! We recommend buying a brand new pair off of diamondtyres.com. They’ll be delivered to your house in excellent condition, ready to replace your old ones.
But let’s say you prefer going to shops. Knowing the age of the tyre also helps when it comes to purchasing tyres to avoid being scammed. Imagine you’ve gone to your nearest shop and the shop owner shows you a beautiful tyre – clean, good tread depth and overall in great condition. You take a look at the DOT and see 2917. You know that a tyre that was manufactured in July 2017 is too old and not worth the money – so you reject the tyre and protect yourself from getting scammed! All because you were able to read a bunch of numbers.
Diamond Tyres wants its customers to be satisfied that they are getting the best tyres in Pakistan. Therefore, we make sure that our related distributors ensure that customers have all the information beforehand to make an informed decision.