Tyre date code mk1 yaris

[2003YarisT3]

Hi all 

am I right in thinking this is the date code ( circled number in picture ) on my rear tires. I current have a flat tire and cannot for the life of me get the lug nuts off.  If I’m correct both of my rear tires are the original 20 year old ones! And I will be getting them changed in the morning as they also both seem to very cracked. Surprised the MOT garage never picked up on this in November. 
TIA

[FROSTYBALLS]

Produced in week 30 of 2003.

[Stevie J]

 

Frostyballs is right, they are indeed week 30 of 2003 from that date code.

I checked on your last MOT, (going on the reg of the car on your avatar picture) and indeed no advisory on the state of the tyres, in fact no advisories at all over the last few MOT's. Judging by the fact the car has only done 35,964 miles at the last MOT, it is indeed  highly likely they are the original 20 year old tyres. Quite incredible really they have lasted that long in terms of age, but tyres on the back could easily reach 40K miles if driven carefully. Front tyres usually last less than half of that mileage.

I dont think the age of a tyre alone can be failed or advised on an MOT, it is only the condition of the tyres at the time of the test, and if they appear in reasonable condition with no apparent bulges, severe cracks, detached tread, and have more than 2mm of tread they cant really fail the test. Silly really, but I guess the law is the law.

It is never really a good thing to be driving on tyres older than 10 years old, let alone 20 years old because you never know if they will come apart when doing 70MPH on a motorway. They may be fine for slower speeds driven locally, but you should really get them replaced before they do fail with a blowout.

[MikeSh]

MoT-wise tyres on the front or steering wheels of goods, passenger or minibus vehicles must not be more than ten years old.

Draw your own conclusions.