I purchased 1 USED tire from Martinez tire shop for $80 cash which I thought was a bit high. Unfortunately for me I needed a tire that day and didn't have a lot of time to compare prices around town. The tire looked brand new from where I stood and for all intensive purposes it was perfect for what I needed at that time.
A month later I am at America's tire store in Victorville purchasing two more tires for the other side of my truck. So the gentleman changing the two tires asked me if I wanted to replace the tire I bought from Martinez tire shop. I said why, it is new and apears to have never been used? He said that is true but the tire is over 17 years old!!! Awesome right... He proceeded to show me how to read the manufacturing date on tires and sure enough that tire was made in 1998. He said it was probably someone's spare tire that was never used. My fault for buying a used tire and not doing my research first. However, the tire shop new it was 17 years old and didn't inform me and extremely overcharged me. And for that reason I will never return to this place of business.
To read the date on a tire look for the DOT marking on the tire and follow it to the right where you will see 4 numbers in a circle. Those numbers represent the week and the year the tire was manufactured. For example 1014 would represent the 10th week of 2014. read more