I updated the number exactly as it is on the sidewall Bill. It's only on one side of the tire. "DOT UPNV HJ3497" here’s a pix of it:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/129095696/large A lot of factors enter into whether a tire's shelf life is expired or not. From a legal stand point when the law dogs get their teeth into the case, they stand a good chance of convincing a jury of non-automotive types (which they would hand pick for the jury of course), that the tire is "Unsafe at any Speed" if that tire is older than a couple of years. But if the vehicle has been garaged and driven only a couple of thousand miles a year and the rubber is not hard and cracked then you would have a hard time convincing me that a catastrophic failure is about to happen at 45 mph. A handful of tire failures out of the millions and millions of tires sold every year also does not wash with me. I wouldn’t be surprised if half the tires on the US highways are “out of date” and it is extremely rare to see catastrophic failures these days even with the high speeds we drive at nowadays.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
