While rubber's physical and chemical properties make it an ideal raw material to use in the production of pneumatic tires, extreme and/or long-term exposure to cold, heat, ozone, oxygen and sunlight will eventually rob rubber of its elasticity.
This means all tires will eventually age out, even if they don't wear out. The still unanswered question is when. Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence that can confirm a "use by" date because there are indications a tire's environment and service conditions play at least an equivalent role as a tire's manufacturing recipe. Therefore, tire aging and tire service life depends on many factors in addition to simple chronological age.
The following tire manufacturers and organizations have issued tire age/service life bulletins:
In addition: before manufacturers ship tires to dealers and warehouses, they have their own guidelines for how long those tires can sit in storage before being made available for sale, with the expectation that those tires may then wait for additional time before being put into service.
While most manufacturers stipulate warranties begin from date of sale, Advanta, Dunlop, Falken, Giti, Riken, and Vredestein begin from date of production. For more information about tire age, see: How Long Do Tires Last?
The following is a table of manufacturer thresholds before tires must be sent to distribution channels.
| Brand | Years |
|---|
| BFGoodrich | 3 |
| Bridgestone | 2 |
| Continental | 4 |
| Cooper | 3 |
| Falken | 2 |
| Firestone | 2 |
| Fuzion | 2 |
| General | 4 |
| Goodyear | 3 |
| Hankook | 3 |
| Kumho | 2 |
| Laufenn | 3 |
| Maxxis | 2 |
| Michelin | 3 years, 4 if winter tires |
| Nankang | 1 |
| Nitto | 3 |
| Pirelli | 2 |
| Toyo | 3 |
| Uniroyal | 3 |
| Vogue | 2 |
| Vredestein | 3 |
| Yokohama | 3 |
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