GT38
GT Owner
Goodyear F1 Production Schedule
While I was at the Discount Tire at 43rd Ave and Bell Rd in Phoenix buying tires for my Range Rover Sport, I got into a discussion with the manager, Kinny Denton, about the status of Goodyear F1s for the GT. Kinny called their special order rep at Goodyear’s corporate headquarters. The rep said they have an inventory of both front and rear tires in their Tennessee warehouse, but that she did not have access to the manufacturing dates.
She checked Goodyear's schedule and reported that new production is scheduled for August 31, 2009 for the front tires (product code 31767), and April 5, 2010 for the rear tires (product code 31768). Tires received from the Goodyear warehouse after those dates may or may not be new production, depending on how quickly they sell the existing inventory. The tires are shipped out of Goodyear’s warehouse strictly on a first in, first out basis (they won’t pull a later production tire even if requested).
To try to get an idea of production dates on tires currently in the Goodyear warehouse, Kinny called a Discount Tire dealer in North Carolina that showed four front tires (no rears) in their inventory. The NC dealer laid eyes on the tires while Kinney was talking to him, and reported a production date of 45-08 (the 45th week of 2008). The NC store’s records showed that they received those tires in December 2008, so they were pretty fresh when they showed up at Discount. Applying Goodyear’s “first in first out” policy indicates that all the front tires currently in Goodyear’s Tennessee warehouse were manufactured no later than 45-08.
We tried to determine the same thing for the rear tires, but were less successful. As of today there were five rear tires in the entire Discount Tire system; all are in warehouses and not at dealers where it would be easier to read the date code. Kinny called the Phoenix warehouse where two of those five tires are. The warehouse guy couldn’t get to them because they were “buried” in the warehouse, but was able to verify that they received the tires from Goodyear in October 2008. So, it was not possible (yet) to estimate what the manufacture dates might be on the rear tires still in the Goodyear warehouse. The guy at the Phoenix Discount Tire warehouse is going to try get to the tires in the next few days to read the date codes, and he promised to call back.
Regarding the "new" F1 tires with old production dates that Forum members have found, Kinny speculated that some companies like Tire Rack may have bought in volume and then didn’t sell them as quickly as anticipated. It appears that if tires are ordered by a dealer and they are shipped from Goodyear’s Tennessee warehouse, at least the front tires will be less than a year old.
I'm sure we'll see these old production tires surfacing for years to come - watch the John Stossel video Bony posted, and re-posted by Sam earlier in this thread http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897 The lesson for all of us is to check the date code on every tire you put on any car- regardless of the brand or where you bought them!
While I was at the Discount Tire at 43rd Ave and Bell Rd in Phoenix buying tires for my Range Rover Sport, I got into a discussion with the manager, Kinny Denton, about the status of Goodyear F1s for the GT. Kinny called their special order rep at Goodyear’s corporate headquarters. The rep said they have an inventory of both front and rear tires in their Tennessee warehouse, but that she did not have access to the manufacturing dates.
She checked Goodyear's schedule and reported that new production is scheduled for August 31, 2009 for the front tires (product code 31767), and April 5, 2010 for the rear tires (product code 31768). Tires received from the Goodyear warehouse after those dates may or may not be new production, depending on how quickly they sell the existing inventory. The tires are shipped out of Goodyear’s warehouse strictly on a first in, first out basis (they won’t pull a later production tire even if requested).
To try to get an idea of production dates on tires currently in the Goodyear warehouse, Kinny called a Discount Tire dealer in North Carolina that showed four front tires (no rears) in their inventory. The NC dealer laid eyes on the tires while Kinney was talking to him, and reported a production date of 45-08 (the 45th week of 2008). The NC store’s records showed that they received those tires in December 2008, so they were pretty fresh when they showed up at Discount. Applying Goodyear’s “first in first out” policy indicates that all the front tires currently in Goodyear’s Tennessee warehouse were manufactured no later than 45-08.
We tried to determine the same thing for the rear tires, but were less successful. As of today there were five rear tires in the entire Discount Tire system; all are in warehouses and not at dealers where it would be easier to read the date code. Kinny called the Phoenix warehouse where two of those five tires are. The warehouse guy couldn’t get to them because they were “buried” in the warehouse, but was able to verify that they received the tires from Goodyear in October 2008. So, it was not possible (yet) to estimate what the manufacture dates might be on the rear tires still in the Goodyear warehouse. The guy at the Phoenix Discount Tire warehouse is going to try get to the tires in the next few days to read the date codes, and he promised to call back.
Regarding the "new" F1 tires with old production dates that Forum members have found, Kinny speculated that some companies like Tire Rack may have bought in volume and then didn’t sell them as quickly as anticipated. It appears that if tires are ordered by a dealer and they are shipped from Goodyear’s Tennessee warehouse, at least the front tires will be less than a year old.
I'm sure we'll see these old production tires surfacing for years to come - watch the John Stossel video Bony posted, and re-posted by Sam earlier in this thread http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897 The lesson for all of us is to check the date code on every tire you put on any car- regardless of the brand or where you bought them!
