TRX date codes

[PaceFever79]

I'm trying to figure out the date code on the tires that came with my project pace car.

Here are the last 3 of the DOT number. Is this correct?

160 = 16th week 1980
190 = 19th week 1980
283 = 28th week 1983
283 = 28th week 1983

Or would that be 1990 and 1993 respectively?

[Saturn V]

From what I've read, there's not a sure way to tell for tires made before 2000. I have read that some tires made in the 90's have a triangle after the date code. Maybe someone here who still has TRX's from the 90's can confirm. You might also try contacting Michelin to see if they distinguished the decades in some other way.


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[PaceFever79]

From what I've read, there's not a sure way to tell for tires made before 2000. I have read that some tires made in the 90's have a triangle after the date code. Maybe someone here who still has TRX's from the 90's can confirm. You might also try contacting Michelin to see if they distinguished the decades in some other way.


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I am lacking vehicle registration info, just playing detective....

I was just trying to rebuild some history by reading the date codes on the tires.

It came with the TRXs above, and a set of clean 10 holes with good treads marked DOT 186.

The car odometer shows 68k miles, I was hoping to establish a tire timeline.

Just drinking beer hanging at the garage for the holiday!

[xctasy]

I'm trying to figure out the date code on the tires that came with my project pace car.

Here are the last 3 of the DOT number. Is this correct?

160 = 16th week 1980
190 = 19th week 1980
283 = 28th week 1983
283 = 28th week 1983

Or would that be 1990 and 1993 respectively?

Nah, 1980 to 1983. The delta got added after the 90's. My 1989 (F3R3 A2TX 499 and no delta stamp) 200/60 HR 390's came from a BMW and have a 499 date sequence, so 160,190,283,283 are totally legit.

My earlier 1981 Mustang TRX's, but JDM sold and 1982 factory registered car ran original 190/65 HR 390'S, and date codes in the late 200's



See http://gglotus.org/ggtech/tire-DOTnotes/tirerat.htm


[quote]Golden Gate Lotus Club
http://gglotus.org/ggtech/tire-DOTnotes/tirerat.htm

Better Living By Reading Sidewalls

Updated July 25, 2005
By Kiyoshi Hamai :

Any street legal tire must have a DOT (Department Of Transportation) number. Having a DOT number indicates that the tire manufacturer has conformed with certain standards set by the Fed. The standards not only set minimum performance levels but means that the manufacturer has paid the Fed the proper taxes.

But, the DOT number itself is laden with information. Here's a typical DOT number that might be found on a European tire... DOT XT VE XKAw 09xx. What's all this mean?

The obvious is DOT, Department of Transportation, but next is XT. The two letters or numbers following "DOT" refer to the manufacturer and the factory location at which the tire was made, in this case Pirelli's factory in Sandbach, West Germany. The "VE" is a typical letter - number combination that refers to the specific mold used for forming the tire. The "XKAw" can mean anything... possibly even secret code from one Pirelli chap to another, but likely batch codes. And the final numbers refer to the date when the tire was made. In the case of our example "09" is the ninth week of "xx", where "xx" can either be a single digit if the tire was made prior to 2000 or 2 digits if after 2000. The "xx" is the year. A single "7" would be 1997, "03" would be 2003. This dating is important for those serious go fast boys who know that tires harden with age, thus tires that have a more recent date maybe more desirable.

So, let's break the code... figure 1 is list of the codes used for the factories used in the tire manufacturing.[quote/]


See also Tue Apr 17, 2012 post in https://fordsix.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=65569

Got my two rear tires 200/60 HR 390 90 H TRX's today, after a l-o-n-g wait.They did come from Germany, off any one of the following BMW's 518, 520, 525, 528, 728, or Mercedes Benz W123 200, 220, 240, 300. DOT Codes are HMF5 A2TX 088 Delta and F3F5 A2TX 295 Delta.



Those DOT codes are way back from the Ark (see http://gglotus.org/ggtech/tire-DOTnotes/tirerat.htm ), with the first one a rare 1998 Great Britan item with a special HM code not listed on the Lotus website. The other is a 1995 French build item. My other exsiting tires are French Roanne made, with one date code from I kid you not 1989 (F3R3 A2TX 499 and no delta stamp!) and the rest 1993 items, so despite the horrible age, at least its better than what's there already.

I'm getting some Durometer readings, so I can measure the age induced hardness from 14, 17, 19 and 23 years of tire ageing. I've done some wet weather and cornering on roads with low polished stone value roads where there is little micro texture, and they are a few milli g's off what would have been there in 1982, and you do have to be especially wary of tire lock with these old covers. The rubbers hysteresis goes with age, it is like slipping slowly back to an early low hysteresis polyglass radial after running the best inch JJ modern French or Italian tire.

The situation from here on is to source new items direct from the factory in France via Longstone Tyres in England.

The fact is that Michelin tire still make practically the entire range of TRX's brand new, but major compound upgrades during 2008 onwards, with Treadware revised downward from 200 to 170 for some tires, still within confines of the UTQG ratings have been made since the first 1975-1987 items, and the factory has only dropped off three tire sizes since the last BMW M6 tire size and compound change in 1987. Development effectively stalled when rim makers like Lemmerz (Belgium)SMR (France), Speedline (Italy) and Goodyear, Avon, Colway et al had to pay Michelin for the rights to cut hoops and covers to the TRX profiles. Jaguars ill fated TDX snow tire on the XJ40 and then some Austin Rover MG's were the last stockers to get them. TRX's never made it to the Scorpio, never got picked up in the Merkur XR4Ti or European XR4i, and the US market Testarosa missed out on the huge stock TRX's of the Euro model. Good news is that there are direct mm versions up a tire section for the missing standard size on those three missing tire sizes from Renault, Ford and Saab:-

1.the Renualt Feugo/MG Austin Rover Montego 2.0 EFI ( the superseaded 180/65R365 standard with 608 mm or 23.94 " unloaded can be replaced by the newer 200/60 365 at 615 mm or 24.21 " unloaded)

2. the Escort GT, Mercury LN7,Ford EXP ( the superseaded 165/70-R365 had a 596 mm 23.47" tire, but the common Euro Citroen BX five door [1982 to 1993] 170/65 365 is the same height, and DOT approved

3. the Saab 99 TURBO and 900 runs Bobcat/Pinto/Mustang II/Fox Stang/Aussie Cortina stud patterns, and the superseaded 180/65 390 can be replaced by stock TRX Fox (non 4-bbl Mustang GT), Citroën CX, Ford Granada 2.3/2.8, Mercedes 200, 220, 240, Peugeot 604, Peugeot 504 Coupé or Renault R30 TX spec 190/65 390’s.

The real concern I have is that its better standard tires for Z06 Vettes and other far more specialised exotics are dropping off the JJ inch rims far more frequently, like flies in a frost, and it seams to me that upgrading to a Ferrari 328 spec new TRX would be a better option than moving to a 17, 18 or 19 inch rim section which won't be avaliable in five years time.

Last of all, Longstone are supplying Avon CR29 remoulds, which are not retreads, but new Millimetrics in 230/55 R390 sizes. These are a fraction of the new Michelin price. They are great value, and I'm now seeing that non brand M tires just a few years old can crack terribly.


The last Benz import I cleaned had differential 235/40 R18 91Y and 25/35 R18 94Y's at back, all OEM M~B approved, of reputable and excellent manufacture. One set of tires was dated middle of 2010, and yet had formidable cracks all over the outside. None of even my 22 year old Michelins are like that 2 year old tire, and I'll bet finding replacements from the proliferation of strange orphan sizes in a few years won't be a cinch. I'm now convinced that even a set of Testa Rosa 280/45 R415 rears on some Speedline mags would be cheaper than the full price of defective sub 40 new tires which cant cope curbs or modern pot holes. At a less than one month response time for a French millimetric from the agent, I can't go wrong. Especially since the compound over the last 20 years has become 20% softer as Michelin regrades the rubber brew to suit.

[PaceFever79]

Xtasy, thanks for a wealth of information!

So it would seem the original owner replaced the TRXs around 1983. Then upgraded to ten hole GT wheels and 15" tires around 1986. Those tires dated 186 still have a good 1/2 tread left. That seems to add up to the 68k miles showing on the car's odometer. And also probably that the car was last on the road sometime around the late 1980s.

That is what I was hoping to establish with the tire timeline!

Thanks!