The owner of a 1969 Corvette was cruising down the highway, when the rear driver’s side tire blew out

http://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/Articles/2014/03/21/Shredded-Tire

 

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Funny someone mentioned trying to get a tire store to air up a tire, but refusing because the tires were too old. Had the same issue with a tire on my trailer, of all things! Boss-man wanted to borrow the trailer for the weekend, and I told him it had a flat. He pulls it up to the shop, and finds one of the valve stems broken. So, he limps it around the corner to the  tire store to get a new stem installed. They refused, stating the tires were too old....even tho they are not weather cracked, or worn out. He wanted me to buy new tires for it, but I dint....not guna spend the $$$$ just so HE could use MY trailer....that's just silly...
Tire dates are important, and if you drive your car, you really need to keep them "fresh", for safety. The tires on my '74 were put on in....1997.....and they're still on it today. No weather checking, plenty of tread left, and they all hold air. I KNOW I need to replace them, but, since I rarely drive the car, I'm just not gunna do it, until time for the next long road trip. Last trip in this car was to C3 Fest/C3VR Gathering at Mike's place....in 2011....on tires that were installed in 1997....perhaps my luck will run out one day, but I'm not going to chance tearing the car up on old tires. I'll take the tires off the Corvette, and put them on the trailer.....problem solved....

|UPDATED|3/30/2014 12:49:22 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

My mistake, I should have read the article first.  I will look to see it my tires have the DOT numbers.  Good article.

That article was pointed at Joel and I.  Mine were installed back in 1996 and at the time a couple of them were already two years old.  (discontinued Goodyear GT+4's)

|UPDATED|3/30/2014 5:53:12 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Oh great!  Rebuild the calipers, fix the wipers (still) and the horn (still) and now a set of tires.  What's that another $1000.

Well, thanks for the info.  I already knew it but was in denial.

Just for information but I found this website advertising Goodyear Eagle GT tires. They also advertise in the "NCRS Driveline" Magazine.

That statement is misleading at best, and an outright lie at worst.
Tire made BEFORE 2000 also have date codes on them....it has been a standard for many years before the  Gobment got involved. Date codes before 2000 simply do not include a specific serial number....just the date itself. The older coding did not allow for the decade of production because tire manufacturers dint expect tire to be in use that long, so they dint put what decade the tire was made on it, just the last number for the year/
First example(below) is coded for the 51st week of 2007.





Next example is the earlier coding, and shows a build date for the 40th week of the 8th year, but no decade....so it could be from '78, '88, '98.....who knows?





|UPDATED|3/31/2014 10:03:53 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Mine are from March(11th week) 1995 or '85 or '75 or...

That article never actually tells us how old those tires were.