<<What to look for when buying used tires>>

Ok so heres the deal, I found someone offering a good deal on a set of used tires. I told the seller I would want to take a look at them before I promise to buying anything. My question to everyone is do you know what I should be looking for as far as the tires go, I know the obvious is uneven wear on the tread. Is there a way to see if they tires are defective in any way??

Thanks in Advance for the help guys
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HMMMMM..... Would probably check if it has holes in it. Or if they were flat were they flat only on the bottom or on the top? Used is the word here. They were taken off for a reason. Lots of variables when it comes to tires. Right size? Tire load capacity? Check for uneven wear. Tires can continue to wear uneven even if the car is aligned. Think of used car. Used and cheap for a reason.

 

I would look for the following:

1) Uneven Tread Wear
2) Weak spots in the side wall (I use my index finger and poke all around the sidewall - if it's weak, you'll feel it).
3) If the tires are off the rim, look inside to see if there's any patches or places where it's been repaired.
4) Look around the inside and outside perimeter of the tire and see if it's worn at all where the sidewall meets the tread (indicating it was run flat and rode on a for a while).
5) There's also a way to check the age of a tire based on the DOT number on the sidewall. I forget what numbers and letters mean what, but you can probably do a search online and find out.

Hope this helps.

 

I'll pick up where he left off and continue.
5a.) The DOT numbers are mandated on EVERY tire road worthy. The full DOT number is either an 11 or 12 digit (depending on the manufacturer) Alpha-Numeric sequence. In order to identify the age of the tire, you'll want to look at the last section of the full DOT (the digits will be broken into 3 sections). If the last section has only 3 digits, it was produced prior to 2000, and is worthless to you. If the last section has 4, the first 2 digits refer to the week of production, the last 2 digits refer to the year of production. For example, if the DOT number says "238", then the tire was produced during the 23rd week of 1998. If the DOT says "1207", then the tire was produced during the 12th week of 2007. As a guideline, I wouldn't put anything on my personal vehicle older than 2005. The tire is only capable of working optimumly for around 4-5 years. After that, the age of the tire is going to help wear that tire out at a much faster rate.

6) Check the tire for cracking all over the tire. Cracking can indicate possible belt seperations, dry rot, and other conditions that will bite you in the ass once he has your money.

7) If this is a temporary tide you over until you got the scratch to get the tires you want, don't consider anything less than 7/32 of tread. Most states recognize 3/32 of tread as bald, because tires are no longer to channel water efficiently, nor provide proper traction needed for day-to-day conditions. If this is more of a long term thing, I wouldn't settle for less than 10./32 of tread. Considering that some tires for our trucks come with 15-20/32, somebody is going to end up only using half the tire, and get something new.

8) Depending on which situation you're in (as mentioned above) I would avoid tires with what's commonly called rope or string plugs. Plugs are not a safe repair and can cause blow outs due to rusting out the belt package inside the tire. Patch repairs should be fine.

I hope that this information helps, and feel free to PM me with any questions you may have. I try to explain as best as a I can without using too much technical tire talk.

 

What did you decide? Did you purchase them? Pics?