Goodyear Speedway date decoding

[Leonard M.]

I bought this set of tires and had them mounted (not for sale). I do not intend on using them for regular driving. Any idea on the date of manufacture?

[Ed H.]

Re: Goodyear Speedway date decoding

Leonard, with newly acquired DOT date coding knowledge, if the tires are for a 1969, than the date code is the 35th week of 1969. The last letter is the year and the first two letters are the week of that year. I learned that from Rick Alshire and Terry Mcmannon. There is a web cite called Tire Tech where it has all of the info about Goodyear tires. I too am looking for a set of Goodyears, but my quest is running into road blocks. Hope this helps.

[Jeff B.]

Re: Goodyear Speedway date decoding

Yes, the 35th week of maybe 1969, or 1979. And even possibly 1989, although I don't think Goodyear was even making that tire in 1989.

[Steve B.]

Re: Goodyear Speedway date decoding

My guess is the date is 35th week of 79. In the 60s the date code was only 8 digits.

[Leonard M.]

Re: Goodyear Speedway date decoding

Thanks for the replies. Everyone was somewhat correct. Some facts that I did know; DOT at the stamp was started in 1969, 3 digit date code was used until 1999 then the 4 digit date code started in 2000. 2 of the 4 tires have the 359 and the other 2 have 149 so 35th week and 14th week of some year 69, 79, 89, 99. I would think that Goodyear did not make this nylon non radial tire in 1979 since it was obsolete with the introduction of radials in 1973, so if it were a Goodyear it would be 1969.
Well I just called Kelsey and asked when they started making the Speedway reproduction. I didn't get that answer, but the did say that BCGH was the Kelsey code for the Speedway whitewall and it would have been a 1999 since it had the 3 digit date code. Here's a picture of the 149 tires.

[Tom R.]

Re: Goodyear Speedway date decoding

Thanks for the replies. Everyone was somewhat correct. Some facts that I did know; DOT at the stamp was started in 1969, 3 digit date code was used until 1999 then the 4 digit date code started in 2000. 2 of the 4 tires have the 359 and the other 2 have 149 so 35th week and 14th week of some year 69, 79, 89, 99. I would think that Goodyear did not make this nylon non radial tire in 1979 since it was obsolete with the introduction of radials in 1973, so if it were a Goodyear it would be 1969.

So let's dig deep on Good Year date coding and the evolving format of the DOT along with the stencil plate. That will isolate the year code to a single decade. The TIN (tire identification number) consists of the DOT stamp, and then the manufacturing information along with a date code with the later two in a single gang or stencil plate.

The DOT label was moved from the topside of the stencil plate to the side at some point in 1981-82. On that basis, we would expect to see a 1969 or 1979 would have the DOT label above the stencil plate.



By 1983, the front portion of the TIN CYU2 was pre-molded and the stencil plate with plant data and date code followed, and the stencil plate evolved from a single gang to...two gang plates. I would expect the format to look different if this was an 89 tire. The tire above shows the DOT over the single stencil. This is a 1978 Polyspare tire.



By the 1990s, these stencils and molded codes, were pretty tidy compared to what we see in the 1970s and 1980s. When the four-digit date code was adopted in 1997, the stencil plate was on both sides of the tire. The tire above is an Eagle GS manufactured in 1991. Look at how clean the stencil plate is compared to early formats. Then look at the 149 tire stencil format above. Below is a Kelsey P255 service replacement tire with the date code on the front side, number of gangs, location of the DOT stamp and the four-digit date code. When was this tire made?

Well I just called Kelsey and asked when they started making the Speedway reproduction. I didn't get that answer, but the did say that BCGH was the Kelsey code for the Speedway whitewall and it would have been a 1999 since it had the 3 digit date code.

I've worked with Kelsey on date coding of Good Years, specifically the P-series but doubt he fully understood the format of this code

What makes this tire interesting is that the stencil format is typical of 1970s Good Year tire production with a single gang and the DOT to the side. My bet would be this tire is a 1979 tire, it is a mix of two TIN format changes.

Understand that tire making machines were/are big clams that mold and bake the tire and arranged in rows and rows of machines. The only time these machines are shut down is when they break. It is at that time when the plant changed out the stencil gangs so it is conceivable that tires are made in a change period and they can reflect or capture these changeovers. This tires/tires shows that the DOT stamp had changed from top to side but the two gang had yet to be implemented. Thus my guess is these are 1979 tires.

Below is a link to a tire article that was published in the Corvette Enthusiast. I have written a series of three articles that address Corvette tires, manufacturing, tire safety and then what we called "The Rebirth of the P255 Series Tire." The latter is the Pace Car tire now produced by Kelsey.

http://www.hunt4cleanair.net/Articles/corvettetiresafety.pdf