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Does anybody know how to determine the age of a Firestone wide oval tire? The stamp on the inside of the tire is 002KA108. There is a V-1 DOT 147 made into the tire. The tire is SUPPOSED to be the original never on the ground spare for my 71 still mounted on a 8/25/70 wheel. There is numbers in white stamped onto the tread so I believe it has never been on the ground but is it a 1970 tire?
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Re: date of Firestone wide ovals
I can tell you it is NOT a calendar year 1971 tire -- it is earlier than that. Beginning January 1, 1971 (well almost for most tires -- I have seen a few with the old date codes in the first month of 1971.) and continuing to this day the tire date code up to December 1999 is 11 characters long. In the new century it is 12 characters long. This system, as you might imagine since the government is involved, is hugely complex. See the link below. FWIW: This information (less the new century data, since that was unavailable when the manual was written) is in the 1970-1972 TIM&JG. Just one example of the many items of useful information in there. (Shameless plug off.)
Before 1971 each tire manufacturer had their own secret date code. Goodyear dates are available, but to the best of my knowledge the Firestone and other date codes remain a secret.
Useful tire informationTerry -
Re: date of Firestone wide ovals
Terry thanks for the information. I guess it is possible or even probable that this tire IS correct for my 12/70 LT1. The wheel date is 8/25/70 so this would make the tire man date early-middle of 1970. Correct??Comment
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Re: date of Firestone wide ovals
Yes, you are correct. I certainly wouldn't dispose of that tire, and I would feel comfortable using it as a spare in NCRS shows. You didn't ask, but I’ll offer anyway – I would NEVER use it on the car.TerryComment
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