Ensure your tyres are not expired ahead of festive-season travel

With the festive season just around the corner, many holidaymakers are expected to use SA roads to get to various destinations. When you are in the market for buying new tyres, did you ever think to check the expiry date on the tyre? 

Tyres do, in fact, have a five-year warranty expiry date, but most vehicle owners probably don’t know this fact and wouldn’t even consider it to be an issue, says Vishal Premlall, national director of the Tyres Equipment Parts Association (Tepa).

He says it’s important that consumers know what to check for when it comes to purchasing tyres. Consumers should look out for these markings on the side wall of the tyre:

For example, in the marking DOT U2LL LMLR 5107, the “51" in the last four digits reveals the tyre was manufactured during the 51st week of the year, while the “07" confirms it was manufactured during 2007.

A safe bet

Premlall says your safest bet is always to use reputable dealers. Should you believe you have been sold a tyre post the five-year warranty expiry mark, the first option is to approach the dealer.

If you can’t resolve the issue, the next step is to approach the Retail Motor Industry (RMI) or Tepa for assistance. He advises that the evidence needed is the dated invoice of the sale of the tyre and the tyre manufacturing-date code.

“Failure to produce an invoice will render any potential claim extremely difficult to prove. However, in the case of people buying illegal second-hand tyres that are beyond the five-year warranty expiry, this becomes a far more common issue and often there is no paperwork associated with the sale.”

While second-hand tyres may only be imported for retreading purposes, the direct resale of imported second-hand tyres in SA remains illegal. The incidence of the illegal sale of imported used tyres has unfortunately exploded in recent years and consumers need to be wary, says Premlall.

They need to bear in mind that without adequate quality control, the tyre may be unsafe to use. Then, in addition, the running-cost calculation of second-hand tyres usually works out to be more expensive than new tyres.

The most important issue surrounding tyre age is the manner of storage. So, while a tyre may look to be in good condition, it could in fact have internal ageing, which is not always evident.

Where tyres have been kept in a cool environment indoors and out of direct sunlight, the ageing is limited to the correct rotation of the tyre on the shelf to reduce polymer memory in the rubber compound.

This is quite the opposite where a tyre has been subjected to high temperatures, direct sunlight and left in one position for an extended period of time.

“If you notice your tyres have reached the five-year mark, the best course of action is to have the condition of the tyres assessed.”

The dealer may see safety issues with the tyres that you may have overlooked. In the event of a report of visible ageing, there should be no hesitation in replacing the tyres immediately, ensuring that tyres are replaced as axle pairs; that is, two at a time.

The best tyres are always fitted to the rear of the vehicle and not to the front as is often thought, concluded Premlall.