I’m the 3rd owner of my 85 T/A. It underwent a bit of a refurb in 1999, then sat for 20 years.

I’m certain that these markings are indicating the tires are from 1999.

I’ve got significant time into wet sanding and polishing my stock 15x7s, I’m not likely to give them up. I do have a set of 16” Formulas that need the same cut/polish, but there’s no rwl tires in 16”.




Im struggling with the $1000 investment on new 235 60 15 rubber for BFGs with all the chatter about yellowing white letters.

The alternatives I can find locally are the Cooper Cobra, Hankook something or other, Hercules XP2000. Shipped, the Mickey Thompson Street.

Am I missing out on something 235 60 15 based on Google localizing my search?

 

If you're putting all seasons on the car, doesn't really matter the brand as they're all going to end up being weak sauce when it comes to traction. Get the cheapest ones, turn them into smoke, scrape the rubber off, repeat.

 

Neither picture looks like the date codes on BFG tires. Should be 4 digit code in an oval indention on the sidewall next to the wheel in same area those numbers are.

 

Date codes for 1999 and earlier where all strange. Usually it was a 3 digit code, 1st two numbers where month and last number was year. So in theory a date code of 129 could mean December 1999 or could be 1989 since decades where not usually part of the stamping. Codes where usually circled following the DOT stamp, but again anything prior to 2000 could be done differently. After 1999 it was 4 digits in a circle after the DOT stamp. So 1222 would be manufactured December of 2022. Sorry not much help.

 

Four number dot code:two first numbers=production week,last two=production year

 

I originally said ovals, but I should have said circles. See the circles around the numbers where they are changed in the casting. In this case the date code is 11th week of 2019 (1119)

 

The above only applies to tires made after 1999, so 2000 and beyond is when the 4 number dot code is correct. Prior to 2000 manufacturers never put any thought into tires being over 10 years old and usually used a 3 digit date code.
See below link if it helps and notice the purple highlighted text in the article quoted below.
https://www.goodyear.com/en-US/learn...%20manufacture.
"If your tires were made before the year 2000, the date code will be only 3 digits – the first two digits again listing the week of the year, and the last digit being the last digit of the year of the tire’s manufacture."