How do you feel about buying tires with different DOT's?

[Speedinsweede]

I recently purchased a set of General Altimax RT43's for a Toyota highlander. When I got the car back I noticed that the every tire had a different date of production, non of which were more than a year old. Whats more is that two tires are made in USA, while the other 2 are made in Mexico.This is the first time I've purchased tires where the entire set didn't come from the same batch. Is this anything to be concerned about? What would you guys do if it were your car?

As it stands, I feel I got a good deal on the tires and if its not going to cause me any headaches in the future then I'm happy to let it be.

Shoot, I just noticed that I accidentally posted on the wrong forum. I'm new here and haven't yet figured out how to move it.

 

[blupupher]

Odd, yes, something to worry about, not really.
They are all dated withing a year of each other, so if you are worried about time vs mileage, one tire being a few months older than the others is not a huge deal.
How old is the oldest one?

 

[MParr]

At least none of them were made in Romania. Been there, done that. Those RT43s went back for some Cooper CS3s.

 

[Speedinsweede]

Originally Posted by blupupher

How old is the oldest one?

Oldest one is the 52 week of 2018, followed by first week of 2019, and the other two are about halfway through 2019.

Originally Posted by MParr
At least none of them were made in Romania. Been there, done that. Those RT43s went back for some Cooper CS3s.

What was so bad about the Romanian made tires?

 

[Mitsu4B11]

I wouldn't be too worried about it.

Could be explained just based on inventory that the store had on hand. Perhaps you bought your tires just the warehouse was switching to new inventory from a different shipment set, and someone prior bought RT43's in a set of two, leaving you to purchase two from "old" inventory (e.g. Mexican produced shipment) and then two more from the "new" inventory. (e.g. American produced shipment)

The thing I would be worried about most is if there was some wildly different production date between the pairs, but as you said, they're all within a year, so no harm there.

As far as differing production countries, I'm willing to bet that a company such as General Tire (a subsidiary of Continental) has fairly strict quality control measures regardless of factory location; and since they're all Altimax RT43's, I'd assume they were built to virtually identical specifications.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

If none of the tires are more than a year old, don't worry about it

 

[Speedinsweede]

I suspected that it was fine, but I guess i just needed some validation. Thanks for putting my mind at ease!

Originally Posted by slacktide_bitog

If none of the tires are more than a year old, don't worry about it

Thank you!

 

[ZZman]

I have never checked tires for dates. So I guess to me it doesn't matter.

 

[mrsilv04]

I had a set of Michelin LTX's that were fresh and produced in the same week... and they were all equally horrible.

Don't sweat it.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

My Elantra has 3 French made RT43s and one USA made one. All the French ones with same production date. The USA one a few months older. Only thing I noticed is the USA one had more little pieces of rubber after the casting. Prefer the attention the detail of the French ones. Using them for 8 months. No issues to report.

 

[atikovi]

Originally Posted by Speedinsweede
Is this anything to be concerned about? What would you guys do if it were your car?


OMG, your Highlander is now a death trap, I would scrap it immediately.

 

[Linctex]

As long as they didn't come from Indonesia, Vietnam or China - you're good

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

I'm a bit OCD so having them from different dates would annoy me, but having them from different countries of origin would drive me nuts.

Are they 'fine'? I'm sure they are. But tires are generally supplied to shops in sets of four so having a set made from leftovers because the tire techs couldn't be bothered to match them up previously reeks of laziness.

Last time I bought tires I specifically asked if all four will be from the same set with the same date code and he assured me they would be. Of course they weren't. One even had to be pulled from the display stand in the waiting room and was well over year older than the newest of the other three. Problem is at that point, to them, what difference does it make? Why does the customer even care? Yeah, well, some of us actually do care about minutiae such as this.

 

[MParr]

Way ou
Originally Posted by Speedinsweede
Originally Posted by blupupher

How old is the oldest one?

Oldest one is the 52 week of 2018, followed by first week of 2019, and the other two are about halfway through 2019.

Originally Posted by MParr
At least none of them were made in Romania. Been there, done that. Those RT43s went back for some Cooper CS3s.

What was so bad about the Romanian made tires?

Originally Posted by Speedinsweede
Originally Posted by blupupher

How old is the oldest one?

Oldest one is the 52 week of 2018, followed by first week of 2019, and the other two are about halfway through 2019.

Originally Posted by MParr
At least none of them were made in Romania. Been there, done that. Those RT43s went back for some Cooper CS3s.

What was so bad about the Romanian made tires?

Way out of spec. They could not be balanced. In other words they were junk.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted by Bottom_Feeder
I'm a bit OCD so having them from different dates would annoy me, but having them from different countries of origin would drive me nuts.

Are they 'fine'? I'm sure they are. But tires are generally supplied to shops in sets of four so having a set made from leftovers because the tire techs couldn't be bothered to match them up previously reeks of laziness.


Or someone...bought two tires? It DOES happen!

Quote
Last time I bought tires I specifically asked if all four will be from the same set with the same date code and he assured me they would be. Of course they weren't. One even had to be pulled from the display stand in the waiting room and was well over year older than the newest of the other three. Problem is at that point, to them, what difference does it make? Why does the customer even care? Yeah, well, some of us actually do care about minutiae such as this.


You should probably see a doctor for your OCD.