dunlop sp4 age?

[mniwagn]

When were dunlop sp4 tires last made?
Found a set, wondering how old they might be thanks

[EAVB]

They should have a date code on them somewhere, often stamped onto the sidewall in a little raised oval section.

This was 3 digits for the 1980's and 1990's with the first two digits representing the week number. and the last digit being the year of the decade. For example 185 would be the 18th week of the fifth year of the decade. The manufacturers were supposed to put a small triangle after the code to denote tyres made in the 1990's so the previous example of 185 would have been made in 1985 whereas a code of 185 followed by a triangle would be 1995.

In practice they often didn't bother with the triangle or used whatever they felt like instead so you can't always be sure.

Since 2000 the codes have changed to 4 digits.

Before 1980 I was knee high to a grasshopper and have no idea what (if anything) they did to let you know when a tyre was manufactured.


Cheers, D.

[mniwagn]

but how long ago were these tires discontinued? thanks

[IAIN]

Tyre age dating was if interest to me as well.
I have a set of SP4's that I took off a 1983 mini city, they were it's original tyres. Using the information from EAVB it looks like they were made in 1983. The tyre codes are 093 and 103.

[814CWE]

were phased out circa 1995 but bulk supply to dealers ceased in 1991

i used to work with sombody who worked at dunlop so thanks to terry carpenter for this info

dates are approx but i hope it helps

sp4 made in 1988 1988 1993 suffered very heavily from cracking so if you have some ,this era check your carcasses for crazing/cracking

sp4 became hard to buy in the 90s and most people just bought-or tyre shops just supplied budget 145 -10 anyway,
some sp4 were not dated ,so it seems a bit of a lottery
i like them,,vintage look but much better than a crossply