Tires: dot tire date, 4 digits, dot code

Question
I read an article about tire dates and the potential hazards if over 5-6 years old.  My Cadi CTS is new but checked the date.  We bought it new Apr 08.  The date reads 0908.  How can that be?

Answer
John,

Here's how to tell how old the tires are:

First locate the letters "DOT" on the sidewall of the tire.  Nearby will be the DOT code.  DOT codes are 10 to 12 digits long.  BTW the digits can be numbers or letters.

The first 2 digits are a code for the manufacturing plant.  

The next 2 digits are a code for the tire size.  

The next 3 or 4 digits are a code for the type of tire.  

The last 3 or 4 digits are the date code.  The format is week/week/year/year or week/week/year.  These are always numbers.

Starting in the year 2000, the date coding used was 4 digits.  That means the largest number you should see for the year is 09.  Before 1999 the format was 3 digits.  1999 and 2000 are transition years, so you will find both 3 and 4 digits.

The date code only has to be on one side – and it is permissible for there to be a partial DOT code, so long as one side has the complete code.

Obviously you've found the DOT code and you located the date code, which is 0908 - the 9th week of the year - early March - 2008.