Warning: found out my old ATV tires were 4 years past the age limit and I had no clue
I was poking around an ATV forum last week and someone posted a photo of the date code on their tires, which got me curious so I went out to my shed in Kenora and checked mine. Turns out tires have a 6 year shelf life from the manufacture date stamped on the sidewall, and mine were made in 2014. That is 4 years past what the makers say is safe, and I had been running them on bush trails all summer without a second thought. The real kicker is the rubber looked fine, no cracks or bald spots, so I never would have guessed anything was off. The guy's post had a chart showing how the rubber compounds harden over time even when they sit in a dark shed, which explains why my back end was sliding out on gravel corners way more than it used to. I always figured tread depth was the only thing that mattered, so this was a bit of a gut punch. Anybody else get surprised by the date code on their rubber, or am I the last one to hear about this?