What Your Tyre’s Age Actually Means (and When Old Tyres Need Replacing)

• Check the four-digit date code on the sidewall: the first two digits are the week and the last two are the year, so 3521 means week 35 of 2021.
• Michelin says tyres should be inspected every year after five years of service and replaced ten years after manufacture, spares included, whatever the tread looks like.
• The ten-year legal ban published on GOV.UK covers lorries, buses, coaches and minibuses, not cars, but the same rubber ageing applies to the tyres on your driveway.

What Your Tyre’s Age Actually Means (and When to Replace Old Tyres)

Read the four-digit date code moulded into your tyre’s sidewall. The first two digits give the week the tyre was made and the last two give the year. Michelin recommends a yearly inspection by a trained professional once a tyre has five years of service behind it, and replacement ten years after manufacture. Blackcircles recommends replacing tyres after six years of use, whatever they look like. If your code shows a tyre older than six years, book a fitter to look at it this month rather than waiting for the next MOT.

Most drivers only think about tyre depth, as that is the part you can see and measure with a gauge. Age is the other half of the story, and it is invisible from the driver’s seat. A tyre that has covered 8,000 gentle miles in seven years can have plenty of tread and still be past its best. This guide shows how to read the date, when the manufacturers say to act, and what a replacement costs.

How to Find Your Tyre’s Age in 30 Seconds

Crouch beside a wheel and look at the sidewall for a string of letters and numbers that starts with the letters DOT. The last four digits of that string are the date. Michelin puts it like this: “The final four digits of the DOT code indicate the week and year of manufacture.” Its example is a code ending in 3520, which means the 35th week of 2020.

Blackcircles gives a second example: 1223 means the 12th week of 2023. Continental gives a third, a code ending in 2714, which is the 27th week of 2014. Week numbers run from 01 to 53.

Check every tyre on the car, including the spare. Tyres on the same axle are often bought together, but a car that has had a puncture replacement or a used set fitted can easily carry tyres made years apart. Continental also notes that tyres made before 2000 carry a three-digit date code. In the 1990s it added a triangle to the end of the code, so “DOT XXXXXXX274” followed by the triangle means the 27th week of 1994. If you own a classic and your tyres show a triangle, they are well beyond any manufacturer’s limit.

If you cannot make out the code, or the sidewall is dirty or faded, Blackcircles suggests taking the car to a tyre fitter, who can read the date in seconds.

When to Inspect and When to Replace

There is no single number that every manufacturer agrees on, so here are the markers the main sources give. They fit together as a ladder, and your tyre’s age tells you which rung you are standing on.

At five years old, the job is inspection. Michelin says: “After five years of service, tires should be thoroughly inspected at least once a year by a trained tire professional.” It applies this when the tyres look fine and have not reached the wear indicators. Blackcircles takes a similar line, saying tyres over five years old can still be used if they are in good condition and were stored properly, but should be checked by a fitter as older rubber is more prone to failure.

At six years, Blackcircles tells drivers to replace. Its page says tyres should be replaced after six years of use, even when they appear to be in good condition. This is the most cautious of the sources, and it is a retailer’s recommendation rather than a legal limit.

At ten years, the manufacturers say the tyre is finished. Michelin states: “Michelin recommends replacing tires ten years after their date of manufacture.” Continental goes further on scope: “All tires (including spare tires) more than ten years old should be removed from service and replaced with new tires.” Continental adds that some vehicle manufacturers specify a different age, and it advises following the carmaker’s guidance if there is one. Check your handbook before you assume ten years is the right figure for your car.

Blackcircles describes the ten-year figure as an industry guideline that advises against fitting or using tyres older than ten years, whatever their condition. In other words, a tyre with deep tread and a ten-year-old date code is still a tyre to replace.

Why Old Tyres Fail Even With Plenty of Tread

Tread depth tells you how much rubber is left. It does not tell you how healthy that rubber is. Blackcircles states: “The rubber used in the tyres will deteriorate over time, regardless of how much they are used.” A tyre that sits on a car parked outside for a decade is still ageing, so low mileage is not protection.

Continental is blunt about the limits of looking. Its guidance says: “Drivers cannot depend on visual inspection for rubber cracking, wear to the tread, or other signs of deterioration from age.” That is why the date code counts for more than a glance at the tyre in the car park.

The Department for Transport makes a similar point in its guidance on tyres older than ten years. The GOV.UK page, published on 15 January 2021, bans tyres aged more than ten years on the steering axles of goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, and on buses, coaches and minibuses. It also bans them on rear axles unless those are fitted with twin wheels. For other axles it says using older tyres is lawful but not recommended, as structural deterioration can occur without visible signs, and it tells owners to record and monitor tyre age.

That page does not list cars. There is no equivalent ban for a family hatchback, so a ten-year-old tyre on a car is not automatically illegal in the way it would be on a coach. What a car owner does face is the ordinary roadworthiness rules: a tyre with cracking, bulges or damage can be condemned by a fitter at any age. The practical point is that the manufacturers, the retailers and the DfT are all describing the same physical process, and none of them tell you to wait for visible damage.

Spare Tyres and Low-Mileage Cars

The spare is the tyre most likely to be forgotten. It sits in the boot or under the floor, looks like new, and gets checked less often than anything else on the car. Michelin is direct about it: “Spare tires age on the same timeline as regular tires, whether they’ve been used or not.” It advises checking a spare’s pressure at least once a year and looking for cracking or damage. Continental’s ten-year advice includes spares in so many words.

Low-mileage cars deserve the same attention. A car that does 3,000 miles a year can reach the ten-year mark on its first set of tyres with most of the tread intact. That is a good result for the owner’s wallet, but the date code still has the final say.

The same check helps when you are buying a used car. Look at the date codes on all four tyres and the spare before you agree a price. A set of tyres that is six or seven years old is a negotiating point, as you will be paying for replacements sooner than the tread suggests.

What Replacing Old Tyres Costs

What Car priced a common size, 215/55 R17, fully fitted, in its guide to tyre prices. Premium tyres ranged from £138 to £191 for the Continental EcoContact 6 (about $184 to $254), and £124 to £139 for the Bridgestone Turanza T005 (about $165 to $185). Mid-range tyres were £98 to £100 for the Kumho Ecsta PS7 (about $130 to $133) and £103 to £116 for the Avon ZV7 (about $137 to $154). Budget tyres started at £58 to £64 for the iLink L-Zeal 56 (about $77 to $85). Dollar figures here use a rough rate of $1.33 to the pound.

Those are single-tyre prices, so a full set of four mid-range tyres in that size works out at roughly £392 to £464 (about $521 to $617). What Car says fitting at retailers starts from around £15 per wheel (about $20), and mobile fitting starts at £30 (about $40) for an appointment in a week or £60 (about $80) for next-day fitting.

If the date code puts you in the inspection window rather than the replacement window, the cheapest step is a fitter’s check. Ask them to look at the sidewalls and the tread blocks for cracking, and to tell you the date codes they find. Then you can decide with facts rather than guesswork, and you can spread replacement over a sensible timetable instead of facing four tyres at once.

Your Quick Action List

Read the date code on all four tyres and the spare this weekend. Write the codes in your phone. Book an inspection for any tyre older than five years, plan replacement for any tyre older than six years, and treat ten years as the point where the manufacturers say a tyre should come off the car, whatever the tread says. Check your vehicle handbook for any carmaker age limit, and check the spare’s pressure at least once a year.

Sources

• Blackcircles: What age should tyres be replaced?
• Michelin: When to Replace Tires: Wear, Age, and Safety Signs
• Continental: Replacing tires
• GOV.UK: Tyre age restrictions for goods vehicles, buses, coaches and minibuses
• What Car?: Tyre prices: How much should I pay for tyres?