Tyres don’t come with a best-before sticker, but they do carry a date, and in a climate like ours it’s one of the most useful things printed on the sidewall. Rubber ages whether the car is driven or not. Heat, sunlight and ozone slowly dry out the oils that keep a tyre flexible, which is why a tyre with plenty of tread left can still be past it.
Checking takes about a minute.
01Finding the four digits
Look for the letters DOT on the sidewall, followed by a string of letters and numbers. The last four digits, usually inside a small oval, are the date the tyre was made: the first two are the week, the last two are the year.
- 2525 means week 25 of 2025, so around the middle of June.
- 0326 means the third week of January 2026.
The full code is sometimes only printed on one side of the tyre. If you can’t find it, check the inner sidewall. On the front wheels it helps to turn the steering to full lock first. Tyres made before 2000 used a three-digit code, but if you find one of those on a car today, the answer is simple: replace it.
02How old is too old?
There’s no single figure every expert agrees on. Most tyre makers suggest having a tyre inspected every year once it passes five years old, and replacing it at ten years regardless of how it looks. In the Gulf a lot of fitters are stricter than that, because summer heat speeds the process up.
Our own rule of thumb is this. Past five years, look at the tyres closely. Past six or seven on a car that’s parked outside all summer, plan to replace them, even if the tread looks fine.
The spare is the one everyone forgets. On many cars it’s still the original from the factory, sitting in the boot for ten years. If yours is that old, treat it as a get-you-to-the-fitter tyre and nothing more.
Where the car lives matters as much as the calendar. Tyres on a car kept in a covered car park age far more slowly than the same tyres on a car parked on open ground in Al Quoz all year round.
03Signs a tyre is ageing
Age shows up on the tyre itself if you know what to look for:
- Fine cracks in the sidewall or between the tread blocks, a bit like dry skin.
- Cracking just above the rim, where the sidewall flexes most. Run a finger along it: if you can feel the cracks, they’re deep enough to worry about.
- Rubber that feels hard and looks shiny rather than slightly matte.
- A bulge or bubble on the sidewall. This one means stop driving on it and replace it now.
- A vibration that wasn’t there a few months ago.
- Grip that seems to have gone, especially when braking on the first wet day of the season.
If you see any of these, it’s worth reading our guide on when to replace your tyres, which covers tread depth and damage as well.
04What “new” should mean when you buy
When you buy tyres, it’s fair to ask how old they are. A tyre that has spent a year in a cool warehouse is fine. One that sat in a container in the sun for three years is a different story, even though both are technically new.
We show the manufacturing year on every tyre we list, so you can see it before you order rather than finding out in the fitting bay. If you want the freshest stock available in your size, mention it when you order and we’ll check for you. You can also browse by brand, for example Michelin or Bridgestone, and compare the years shown on each tyre.
05Not sure about yours?
Send us a photo of the DOT code on WhatsApp, along with a shot of the tread. It takes a minute, and we’ll tell you honestly whether the tyres have life left in them or not. And if they don’t, find your size in the finder, or start from a common one like 215/55 R17, and you’ll see every option with the year it was made.
While you’re at it, check the pressures too. Our summer tyre care guide explains why that matters more here than almost anywhere else.