Do tires have a serial number?


I was looking over my new tires (Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ-P3 37x12.5x17), and thought it would be a good idea to record the location and balance weights (the stick-on weights on the inside of rim) for each tire incase they come off somehow (they always seem to be missing on my older tires. Only the old adhesive backing remains).


I looked over the tires pretty well - but I can't find anything that would identify one tire from another. I thought I would record something like "Tire S/N xx has 8oz at the 2 o'clock position". Tire S/N xy has 6oz at 12 o'clock, ect.


I thought all tires had a serial number - if for no other reason, so you don't buy hazard insurance on just one tire (when you buy a set of four) and then try to use the insurance on whatever tire gets damaged first. But more realistically for the manufacture to issue a recall or track defects back the manufacturing plant.

 

I don't know about the tires you have, but any time I go buy new tires now (especially at Walmart) the tires have a bar code and are scanned into the system when they are installed on my vehicle.

 

They have a TIN, that identifies production batches, for warranty and recall purposes, but not an individual serial #

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret...jsp?techid=172

 

I recall seeing that bar code "sticker" on my last set of car tires. I figured it was put on by the store for inventory control. Not something the tire manufacturer did.

Come to think of it, it is a lot of work/expanse to put a s/n on every tire and record it. Probably not worth the effort on a low production tire. There are some codes stamped/melted in the rubber - that's provably what the manufacturer uses to determine plant and built date.

 

Date codes are required. Here's one decoder:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret....jsp?techid=11


Myself, I like to get the maximum return on investment with my tires. Not saying my tires are old, but I've probably got the only ones on the road with the date code written in Roman numerals.

 

The front tires on mine were original to the truck....YIKES ! More wrinkles, sidewall bubbles, and dry rot cracks than the Appalachian Region ! I'd say the previous owner got his money's worth. They deserved a proper burial. We played TAPS at dusk.
Quoting A Christmas Story:
"My old man's spare tires were only actually tires in the academic sense. They were round; they had once been made of rubber.".

 

J.Caesar would be proud...Release the Lions !

 

My "bump stops" at the back wall of the garage are two late 1930's Goodyear tires, still wrapped in the original corrugated brown wrap. I refuse to relinquish them.

 

See if you can get Tire Rack to mount them on some wheels. Try to keep a straight face.

 

Then you'd probably like this, next to my easy chair:

Best Christmas present EVER!

 

And don't get me started on those so-called "tread wear indicators" at the base of the grooves. I prefer to think of them as "last-chance traction bars".

 

I grew up a block to the north from the Christmas Story House on Cleveland's Near West Side. We later moved to the far West side to Westpark. So yes, I do appreciate the Leg Lamp ! I have one, much to my wife's dismay

 

Any tire shop would look at me like I had a third eye in my forehead...I keep them for memorabilia reasons. Tire Rack? pfft...I have my own as well as a balancer. Hold overs/scoffed from dealers that I worked for as well as a couple of parts washers.

 

Ya, it's just a joke, for entertainment purposes.

The old bias-ply tires hold up pretty well, far better than modern radials. In the 20's thru maybe the 40's tires went flat all the time, if you got a "good year" out of them you were doing good. Hm. My gramps kept (half) a bar of Ivory soap in the glovebox of his Model A to wash his hands after changing tires. I keep it in my slick for good luck. It's turned a nice golden orange since then. Back then any kind of road trip meant a flat tire or two. But by the 50s and 60s tire technology had really improved. I think I've had one tire blowout on the road in my lifetime, so far anyway. Tires are getting cheaper, maybe not in price but in materials it seems like. The wonders of "free trade" I guess.

 

Few years back, I bought 4 new tires from Wal-Mart. They asked if I wanted to purchase lifetime road hazard warranty for 10 bucks a tire.
I told the lady to sell me one warranty. She was a little uneasy about that response. I paid the ten dollars and left with my warranty.
A few months later I had a blowout.
I went to Wal-Mart and said I needed to replace my tire under warranty. She asked for my paperwork. She said you bought 4 tires and only 1 road hazard. How am I supposed to know which tire is under warranty?
I sad it is easy and pointed to the blowout in the bed of the truck.
They gave me a new tire and I paid ten dollars for another road hazzard.

Lifetime road hazard is for the life of that tire. The longer you drive on them the less effective the warranty is. They prorate the treadwear and you pay the difference for the new tire. Eventually, you will pay regular price even with the warranty.