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The Tyres in question are Camac 195 70 R14
Printed on the sidewall, one line above the other, is:
DOT F4J9 (definitely F4J9, not F419)
E21 (in a circle) 020560
These are the tyres that were fitted to the front when I collected the Princess and now that I'm nearly done with cleaning, I'm moving on to the maintenance proper.
I'm told the second line dictates the tyres were produced in May of 1960 and I'd like to think this is bull poop, but I want to double check for safety's sake.
I know the tyres should be smaller (185 70 R14 actually) so they will be getting replaced before I press the Princess into regular use. The reason for asking is that I have a one-off trip over to Sheffield for a club meet planned next week that will serve as an opportunity to get a better feel for the car, listen for any problems and have a blast down the motorway to blow out the cobwebs of disuse.
Obviously, I don't want to make that journey on 52 year old tyres and I wouldn't have driven her to Mansfield and back on the day of purchase had I suspected they were that old at the time.
Worth noting I have looked on various decoding sites, some of which have been linked to me before, and none of them make sense of what's written on the tyres so I think I'm either misunderstanding the cypher or they really are positively ancient tyres.
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IDY
Part of things
Posts: 893
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I find this site - Tyre Bible very useful for this sort of thing. Neither of those is the date code. According to that site the E tells you the tyre is certified to ECE regulation 30, 21 is the country issuing the certificate and 020560 is the number of the certificate - which I am sure is useful to someone but is very boring  The date code should be a 3 or 4 digit number following the DOT number and it might only be present on one side of the tyre |
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Last Edit: Mar 13, 2012 2:24:13 GMT by IDY
I will get round to finishing it at some point
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When the sun comes out I'll have another look. Tyre Bible was one of my points of reference.
The thing that confuses me most is that what I thought was the DOT code now would appear to not be, I'm fairly sure there isn't another DOT code on the sidewall, might have to take the wheel off and have a look on the other side of the tyre.
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IDY
Part of things
Posts: 893
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might have to take the wheel off and have a look on the other side of the tyre. I have just edited my post about that (didn't notice you had posted a reply  ) the site mentions that the date code is a 3 or 4 digit number that is at the end of the DOT number and it might be present on only one side of the tyre - which seems stupid to me but that's bureaucratic regulations for you |
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Last Edit: Mar 13, 2012 2:30:53 GMT by IDY
I will get round to finishing it at some point
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Handy hint - the date code is usually entirely contained within an oval moulding mark on the tyre following the DOT number. In addition, the font is often 'concave' where the DOT number is 'convex'.
If it ends in 560 it might be 1986 (or 1996 if it ends with a triangle after the numbers) - but it's not 1960. The 4-digit codes (with 2 digits for the year) only came in in 2000.
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Mar 13, 2012 15:42:45 GMT
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Had the wheels off for a proper look just now and I now know what I have properly
2 Kingpin 185 70 r14 remoulds stamped "07/95 circle", both of which are in poor condition with bulges and cracks to the sidewall and some cracking in the tread too.
2 Camac 195 70 r14 stamped 4004 and 3104, both in reasonable condition.
1 Infinity LMA3 185 70 r14 stamped 2106, good condition.
So that means none of my tyres are from the 60s, the info I was given was indeed bullpoop. Instead, if I've understood the info properly, I've got two 17 year old remould tyres, two 8 year old tyres and one 6 year old tyre.
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Mar 13, 2012 16:30:38 GMT
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The Kingpins are a bit of an oddity then, because that's the only thing age related on them. They do look chronically ancient too and being remoulds could well be very old tyres. I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if the Kingpins are from '95 because in '97 it stopped being a daily driver and started life as a show queen.
Edited to add: I'm guessing the odd stamp on the Kingpins is when they were remoulded, and that could be why it doesn't conform to the usual DOT code.
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Last Edit: Mar 13, 2012 16:31:49 GMT by Deleted
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Mar 13, 2012 16:34:32 GMT
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For the sake of clarity, some pictures. Camac #1  Camac #2  Infinity  Kingpin #1  Kingpin #2 (it's the same as above, but much less legible)  |
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IDY
Part of things
Posts: 893
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Mar 13, 2012 17:34:53 GMT
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Kingpin #2 (it's the same as above, but much less legible) Don't think I would be comfortable driving on a tyre that looked like that  |
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I will get round to finishing it at some point
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RobinJI
Posted a lot
"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
Posts: 2,995
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Mar 13, 2012 18:12:45 GMT
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Yeah, I wouldn't worry your self too much with the age of the kingpins, they should really go in the bin whatever age they are.
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Mar 13, 2012 18:25:20 GMT
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yeah, the Kingpins are going binwards. I've got some pennies due in a day or two so I'll use those to buy tyres rather than what I was going to buy. Tyres are more important.
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Mar 13, 2012 19:12:09 GMT
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Yeah, get rid of those tyres ASAP! They're shafted.
If money is tight, Part worn tyres really are a good buy. A place local to me (Top Tread near Rotherham centre) would do you some decent used 185/70/14s for about £15 a corner fitted and balanced, If you get a full set they might knock a drink off the total as well.
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Last Edit: Mar 13, 2012 19:12:42 GMT by cobblers
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Mar 13, 2012 19:37:16 GMT
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Yeah, I'm expecting £15-20 per wheel at the place in Chesterfield my Dad uses, which is about 5-10 minutes drive away. Thankfully, the Princess shares tyre size with a lot of modern mini/supermini cars so tyres are much more plentiful than for, say, the Polo which doesn't really have a modern counterpart for wheels as far as I'm aware.
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) the site mentions that the date code is a 3 or 4 digit number that is at the end of the DOT number and it might be present on only one side of the tyre - which seems stupid to me but that's bureaucratic regulations for you 
