Tires: Tires for Dodge truck, tire placard, dodge 1500

Question
Hi. I was wondering if the tire size P245/60R15 would fit a Dodge 1500 king cab truck? And do tires have a shelf life? Thank you.

Answer
Julie,

On every vehicle sold in the US – and I am told this is worldwide, but I have not been able to verify this - there is a sticker – commonly called the tire placard - that lists the original tire size and the proper pressure for that size.  The placard is usually located on a doorpost or in the glove box – but sometimes it is located in the trunk or on the fuel filler door.

BTW, it doesn't matter who makes the tire or what pressure is listed on the tire's sidewall, if the tire size is the same as the placard, then the pressure listed on placard is also appropriate.

Based on what I know about tires, I'm going to bet that a P245/60R15 has less load carrying capacity than the tires listed on the vehicle tire placard.  And that increases the risk of a load related tire failure, which sometimes has tragic results.

And yes, tires have a shelf life, but it is highly dependent on the storage conditions.  If you are buying new tires, anything within 3 years is OK, after that it starts to become a little iffy.

Recent bulletins from the tire industry indicate that tires degrade simply due to time.  The age of a tire is important even if the tire is unused.  There some disagreement over how to best express this age limitation, but my take is:

If you live in a hot climate (AZ, CA, NV, TX, and FL) then the limit is six years.  If you live in a cold climate (MN, ND, WI, MT, etc), then the limit is 10 years.  States in between are  ..... ah ........ in between.