Tuesday, July 22, 2008

A "Tire" Situation

(thanks to rc10.com for the image)

The theme poll is up early this month, by the way!

Thanks to a close friend of mine, I was given a heads up on a dire situation that should be noticed by everyone.

Car tires are usually neglected—unless it somehow popped, or had become too worn, and you had to go replace it. But, have you ever taken into account on how old your tire is?

Don't let appearances deceive you. Although your tire 'appears' to be brand new, it may actually be the oldest tire on your block.

Every year, many car accident deaths have been accounted to these old tires. But you ask yourself: how can an aged tire possibly kill you? Like in many cases, the old tire's tread (the part of the tire that comes into contact with the road—in other words, the outer layer of the tire) actually explodes off of the tire itself, leaving you with a deformed, wrecked tire. But the tire isn't the only one that's going to be wrecked. Soon after the tread is blown off, you will not be able to keep control of the car, and soon, you'll find yourself in a deadly situation.

To watch a more detailed investigation, please see this video:

Watch the video here; thanks to ABC news for the story!

So, what can you do to examine your tire, and determine how old it is? There's actually a small, serial code number imprinted onto the tire (although a majority of these codes are printed on the interior of the wheel--the side facing inwards towards the car, not actually 'inside'). This code will tell you what week (out of the year) it was made in, and what year. For example: 236. This code tells you that the tire was manufactured in the 23rd week of 1996. How do you know if it's 1996 or 2006? If it was made in 2006, the code would've been 2306.

Here is another example: 3104. This tells you that the tire was made in the 31st week of 2004.

Now, keep in mind that the average healthy life-span of a tire is 6 years. The "236" tire was way, way too old. "Alright, I'll just go replace it." Did you think it would be that easy? Some tire retailers might not be selling so-called "new" tires, as you may think. Again, be sure to inspect the tire before buying it (if it's possible).

Keep this information in mind. It's an unfortunate and difficult issue. I thought that I should share this so everyone can be more safe (better be safe than in DANGER).

-the clam.

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1 comment:

JoJo said...

yeppers i'm guilty of taking them... thanks for visit & the comment! Your site is very cool.