Most tire manufactures state that tires should be inspected for wear, condition and dry rot on a regular basis. Tires more than 5 years old are suspect for dry rot.
General Tire states that tire should not be used 10 years after the manufacture date.
What Is The Service Life of a Passenger or Light Truck Tire? | General Tire
Isn’t that what I just said?? lol
The tire are less than 10 years old, he was told that tire must be replaced after 7 years based on manufacture date.
Op was told to replace the tires mainly due to reduced traction, which is a safety issue to most…
But he also asked:
And as we both said, Date Code…
But I have read in more than one vehicle manufacture owners manual to replace tires at 7 years of age…
Sorry, I missed the above post at 1st… oops
That’s what I recommend and always do, although there are people who will disagree. I don’t want to take a chance on prematurely wearing out new tires.
+1
I have all (but the old truck) the vehicles alignments checked and set if needed (almost always out of spec just a little) at every oil change, as well as the tires rotated and balanced at the same time… II can tell you with the middle TN roads, you will almost always need an adjustment…
If you live with perfect roads then probably not needed as much as we do down here with our potholes…
That being said, I have had vehicle towed in with blown out front tire(s) from potholes and the alignment was perfect, so there is that… lol
Very interesting read.
I had the exact same problem as OP when I had my 2012 Toyota Camry SE 4cylinder. The front wheels would spin if I depressed the accelerator a bit too hard and the orange traction light would flash.
My tires were new.
I would brag to my friends that my Camry could do burnout from a dead stop and they would say I was full of ****.
My sister had the same car as mine ( same 2012 Camry SE 4cylinder) and I could never succeed at making the front wheel spin from a dead stop like I could mine.
The only difference with our cars was that hers was a base model and mine was a premium, which came with 18 wheels, sunroof, touch screen monitor, none of which my sister’s car had.
But the engine was identical.
This made me believe my car was tuned ?
That’s been my experience. But time does degrade the tire probably, even when the tire is properly stored indoors and out of the sunlight. Ozone deterioration maybe. I wonder if it is known what the % factor is? In other words if 10 years in the sunlight is the limit, how long in the warehouse to reach the same rubber deterioration? I’d guess a factor of 3 or more, so 30 years in the warehouse would be the same as 10 years in the sunlight. But that’s just a guess. The actual factor is probably well known.
More realistically, it was that she had a better tire for traction… Not all tires are created equally… I have put new cheap (crapy) tires on a vehicle and then test drive it and the wheels would try to lock up with out much effort… Tires will/can make or break a vehicle… Some people just want something round with a hole in the middle that holds air and the cheapest (crapy, I mean economical) tire they can buy, while others want a much better tire with great traction etc etc… Me, the way I drive at time, want the best tire for all my vehicles… I just put a Firestone Destination LE3 on a truck that the tires will most likely dry rot from time and old age before they get 10K miles on them… 
You might be right. I should add also that my Camry had an aggressive 2nd gear. It pulled the car hard. And my sister’s car never had that aggressive pull.
She bought hers new. I bought mine used. So I don’t know what the 1st owner might have done to mine.
10 years is the limit even if you sleep with the tire in your bed under the covers… you might want to read my post(s) again… I worked for the Biggest manufacturer of car and automobile tires in the world, they sold basic tire rubber to many/some of the other tire manufacturers…
Sure, it is possible to break traction from a stop but so much that you lose steering control?
My son has a Grand Am GT 3.4 liter w/Ram Air, the tires will break loose but not without trying (driving like a jack ass). The OP implies that this has become a nuisance, I think there is more to the problem than old tires.
True. I never lost control with mine. Just the spin I experienced.
So the sunlight exposure vs indoor factor for the rubber in tires is 1 then? The same rubber deterioration from 10 years of sunlight to 10 years indoors? Such a thing is definitely possible.
But this idea seems to differ from what the other poster, @Nevada_545 , is saying above. @Nevada_545 , care to comment or clarify?
I recall some GM vehicles decreased power steering assist as the speed increased and wonder if that might be the issue here.
You are way over thinking this, yes sun light is harder on tires, but 10 years from the DOT date code is when the tire should be taking out of service… I have seen Michelins and BFG’s dry rot in about half that time to the point of sidewall blow outs while airing up on old cheap cars to Mercedes Benz etc… The point is, no matter if you baby your tires and give them a hug and a kiss at night before you go to bed, they still need to be taken out of service at the 10 year mark for safety reasons…
Now does that mean that all tires will suddenly blow up the day after the 10 year mark, of course not, but as an industrial standard, they need to be removed at that time…
Now the tires that I just replaced on the old Chevy were 16+ years old with only 20Kish miles on them, I would not go over 30-3 MPH with them cause I could feel them separating and took the chance when I needed the truck to be a truck, but I was waiting for one to blow, and I wasn’t going to drive it in the rain…
I also have about the best tire made (at the time, they beat out the MXV4’s in wet/dry traction, when I tested them on a track) on my Vibe/Matrix and can tell the difference at there 6-7 year mark, they are loosing their wet weather grip, so I have to take that into consideration when driving, but I used to be able to run 85-90 MPH in a very heavy down pour (no other cars close to me so don’t freak out) with no hydroplaning issues period, but now I go slow in the rain cause of their age…
Think of it like Milk, it has a use by date on it and under the best conditions, a few days after that it is turning sour, leave it out in warm weather and it turns sour even faster, leave it out in the sun and it doesn’t last long at all…
Tires have a use by date so to speak…
IMO you should consider inexpensive tires with a short life. Look for tires with the following UTQG ratings:
Tread wear: a rating of 300 or higher should be adequate for you. A 300 treadwear rating means the tires should last between 20,000 and 30,000 miles, just like the tires you have now. The lower tread wear rating should come with a lower price than tires rated 500 or more.
Traction: get tires with an A or AA rating. Almost all tires are rated A or AA and the A rating will be less expensive.
Temperature: B rated tires can run all day at between 100 and 115 MPH, perfectly adequate for your use. A rated tires can run at 115+ MPH and while better than B tires, it is more than you need and those tires will probably be more expensive.
Tire Rack is a great place to shop for tires even if you don’t buy from them. As @VDCdriver posted, input your car info and they will list all the tires you could buy from them. If the list is too long, filter by price and pick the less expensive ones to start. I buy my tires there and have them shipped to my repair shop for mounting, balancing, installation and alignment. That way I always get the tires I want and I trust the people that install them.
Once the tires break loose, torque steer can really kick in on some vehicles.
If, I say again if, you can find tires at Walmart that meet your needs, why not have Walmart mount and balance the tires?
As far as Tirerack and Discount Tires, that would be my preference, Discount Tires (where I live) works with Tirerack, meaning you can order from Tirerack and have them shipped to your local Discount Tire store. As far as pricing, Tirerack prices seem good. Last week I bought new tires. I chose the tires using Tirerack tire decision guide then printed out the tires I wanted. Took the printout to my tire dealer, their price was $20 more, but they price match.
Another Tirerack advantage, road hazard is included.
BTW, once I did get tires from Walmart with mounting and balance, no problems. That was around twenty years ago.
2 thoughts:
No one has mentioned Torque Steer - which is common on FWD cars.
Second, tire aging is mostly controlled by heat, so predicting when tires need to be replaced due to time is highly dependent on where you live - Arizona being much worse than Minnesota.
Also, UV doesn’t seem to play much of a role.
I go into much more detail here: Barry’s Tire Tech: Tire Aging and Weather Cracking