Be careful with tricks to re-date car tires

Tires are an extremely important part that is not only directly related to the vehicle's performance and safety, but also to its aesthetics. After a long period of use, tires will wear out, deteriorate, etc. and must be replaced periodically after a distance of about 50,000 - 60,000 km or no more than 7 years from the date of manufacture, whichever comes first.

Tires on the market today are usually embossed with the production date (tire date) in 4 characters, in which the first 2 numbers indicate the week and the last 2 numbers indicate the year of manufacture of that tire. For example, the tire has the words 2118 on it, which means it was manufactured in the 21st week of 2018.

Regular tire date is embossed with 4 digits. Illustration photo

Normally, when changing tires for cars, users tend to choose tires that are manufactured as new as possible to increase the usage time, while ensuring that the tire will operate stably and safely.

However, there is no shortage of untrustworthy tire service establishments that, due to the backlog of unsold tires, have come up with ways to change the year of manufacture or import these types of tires to replace them for customers in order to make a profit.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Thi - Director of Thi Lop chain of stores (Hanoi) said that the trick of "transforming" the year of manufacture of tires is not uncommon nowadays, the purpose is to "revive" it, to prolong the usage time of a tire and deceive car owners.

In fact, at his facilities, he has often discovered that the tires of customers who come to have their tires serviced have had their expiration dates changed, leading to the tires quickly deteriorating and being at a higher risk of damage and malfunction than usual.

"A few weeks ago, when we were patching a tire for a customer's car, we discovered that the tires were unusually old compared to the year of manufacture embossed on the sidewall, which was 3618 (week 36 of 2018 - PV). When the employee used his hand to pry it off, the number 8 on it came off, and underneath it was still faint, like the number 2 or number 3 had been shaved off. So, with this trick, the tire was "magically" rejuvenated to 5-6 years old," said Mr. Thi.

After prying hard, the number 8 on the tire sidewall came off. This number 8 also has a slightly different font than the other numbers (Photo courtesy of NVCC)

According to this expert, tires are made of rubber compounds and organic materials that are easily decomposed over time, even when not in use. No matter how carefully stored, inventory tires will degrade after many years. Therefore, many tire manufacturing, trading and service establishments erase and re-label the numbers to turn inventory tires into new tires.

According to the owner of Thi Lop chain of stores, tires for luxury cars priced over 1 billion VND are at high risk of being re-dated because the possibility of tires being in stock is higher. Meanwhile, popular cars under 1 billion VND are less likely to be re-dated because of the large number of cars, fast turnaround time and less inventory. Therefore, the more expensive luxury cars have to replace tires, the more careful they have to be with this trick.

To avoid buying re-dated tires, which can lead to poor quality tires that quickly deteriorate, Mr. Nguyen Duc Thi advises car owners to check the condition of each tire and carefully "examine" the 4 date numbers before replacing a new tire or set of tires. If the number is re-stamped or overwritten, it will not be sharp, the numbers will not be "smart", and can even be easily pried off by hand. If there are any unusual signs, you should request to change to a new tire immediately.

In addition, this expert also advised car owners to choose reputable establishments to replace new tires and take care of tires regularly to avoid unnecessary tire damage along the way.