How to Read a Tire Date Code: Find Its Age Without Mistaking It for an Expiry Date

“They still have lots of tread” is only part of the story when you are buying used tires or bringing a seasonal set out of storage. The small date code on the sidewall tells you when each tire was manufactured. Reading it takes a minute; deciding whether the tire belongs on your vehicle takes more than a number.

Quick answer: In the four-digit manufacture code, the first two digits identify the production week and the last two identify the year. A code ending 2524 means week 25 of 2024. It does not mean May 2024, a purchase date or an expiry date.

1. Find the full identification number

Park somewhere safe, switch the vehicle off and inspect the accessible sidewall with a flashlight. Look for the tire identification number, commonly beside the letters DOT. Photograph the complete sequence rather than copying an isolated four-digit marking.

Bridgestone and Firestone’s Canadian safety manual explains that the complete code may require checking both sidewalls. If the date is facing inward, ask the tire shop to record it during service. Do not crawl beneath the vehicle or remove a wheel just to get this number. A partially visible code is a reason to get help, not guess.

2. Split the final four digits into two pairs

Canada’s Motor Vehicle Tire Safety Regulations, section 6, describe the week/year date format. Read the week first, then the year. The code gives a production week, not an exact day.

Worked examples: 0825 means week 8 of 2025; 4022 means week 40 of 2022; 0126 means week 1 of 2026.

Keep the leading zero when you write down 0825 or 0126. Record every tire separately, including an accessible spare. A matching brand and tread pattern do not establish that every tire shares a production date. If a code appears incomplete or you cannot identify which characters form the date, have the manufacturer or tire shop interpret the full marking.

3. Keep manufacture, purchase and installation dates separate

Imagine a tire marked 4022 that was purchased in spring 2024. It was manufactured in 2022; buying it in 2024 does not restart its manufacture-age clock. Your invoice still matters because it documents the transaction and may be needed for the applicable warranty.

A useful ownership record has separate entries for the full identification number, decoded week/year, purchase date, first installation date if known, and latest inspection. Mark an unknown installation date as unknown in your own records instead of treating the purchase date of a used car as the tire’s first day of use.

4. Apply the correct manufacturer’s age guidance

Michelin Canada recommends professional inspections at least annually after five years of use and replacement at ten years from manufacture as a precaution, even with remaining tread. Its ten-year guidance includes spares. Michelin also directs owners to the vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations for original-equipment tires.

Those are manufacturer recommendations, not a claim that every tire is safe until its tenth birthday or that all Canadian tires have one universal legal expiry date. Check the guidance for your actual tire and vehicle. Cuts, bulges, cracking or changes in ride require attention regardless of the date code; an apparently recent tire can still be damaged.

Buying used winter tires? Ask for more than one photograph

Quebec’s SAAQ advises checking manufacture dates when buying tires and notes that older winter-tire rubber becomes less effective on snow and ice. A clear tread photograph alone cannot answer the age question.

Ask for the full code and both sidewalls of each tire, then arrange a professional condition assessment and fitment check before purchase. Ask about repairs and storage history without assuming that a seller’s “used for two winters” means “manufactured two years ago.”

What to do with the result

Use the decoded date to decide what to ask next: confirm an unreadable code, book an age-related inspection, or discuss replacement under the applicable manufacturer guidance. Keep the photo with your service records so next season’s decision starts with evidence.

For the separate task of choosing a suitable winter package and comparing the complete installed cost, see our winter-tire fitment and cost guide. This date-code guide does not replace a tread, pressure or damage inspection.