Hello, I have a spare set of Michelin XWX's, that are at least 5 years old, and which have the code DOT F3 T9 A5H x 208 Based on information I found on the net, the first two numbers or letters after DOT indicate the plant where they were built, and the next four numbers indicate the manufacturing date. According to this the above code doesn't make much sense. Does anyone know how to decipher it? Many thanks.
I have just removed the origional tyres on my 328 due to age,(17 years old)they had a similar code,and they were 1988 manufactured.The first two numbers indicating the week number,and the last number the year.If your tyres were not 98,they could be 88 like mine were.The car has only done 6500 miles during it's life,loads of tread left,but getting hard due to age. Hope this helps.
Note a number of auto manufacturers now recommend replacing tires at 6 (?) years of age regardless of miles. Some real science behind these recommendations, of course, that's still based on worst case environment. If you're not in a hot environment, you can go longer.
20th week 1988. To determine a tire's age look on its sidewall (usually the back side) for the letters DOT followed by one or more ovals containing numbers. The last oval will have three or four digits. If there are three digits, the first two are the week of the year and the last digit is the year of manufacture (the digits 229, for example, would indicate the tire was manufactured in the 22nd week of 1999). To distinguish between the 80 and 90 decades, tires manufactured in the 90's will have a triangular mark to the right of the manufacture date. Beginning with the year 2000 there are four digits. The first two are the week of the year and the last two are the year of manufacture (2301 indicates the tire was manufactured in the 23rd week of 2001).
