Tires: DOT Tire Code, tires, 3 years

Question
I've been told that when purchasing new tires, to make sure either the DOT tire codes have the same information imprinted on each tire or the year of manufacture is within a couple of years. Your thoughts on this.

Answer
Mike,

First, you will find that tires are only made with the date code on one side - and whether that side is the one mounted out or not is random.

I also wouldn't worry much about the tires having the same date code.  There's not enough variation from batch to batch to worry about such things.

I also would not worry about purchasing tires that are within 3 years of manufacture date.  - and I would expect a discount on tires older than that, with the idea that I would use those tires up quickly.