Could somebody please tell me when these tires were made? I have an idea but I want a second opinion. I also want a second opinion from somebody who is not consulting tirerack.com since that's where I got my info.
My DOT code reads: "DOT 51 0T J007". Thank you in advance for your help

 

Ok normally on a street tire the dot reads as followed:

EXAMPLE: 3210. 32nd week of 2010

And letters and such before ^ are normally just plant id's and other manufacutre info. I have never seen a "j" before/in a date code. So i maybe the "j" stands for 10th week or month of 2007. But non the less they are 2007 tires

 

Ok thanks, I just bought these so I'm glad to hear that they're not 1997. I read on tirerack.com that the DOT codes with only three numbers were pre-2000.

 

Its possible that they are 97' tires however i would think they are not, just call they maker and ask them

 

Flip the tire to the other side and check, tires have DOT#s on both sides one side will have either 4,7, or 8 digits, the other side will have either 11 or 12 depending on the manufacturer, the last 4 are the date if it is pre 2000 it will only have 3 for the date ex:128 would be 12th week of 1998, after 2000 will have 4 ex:1211 12th week of 2011, I have also seen some canadian tires with only 3 for date which were definately not from the 90's hope this helps

 

I'd have you check the other tires to make sure that the "J" isn't a number 1.....feel free to post pix !

 

Nailed it. The other side of the tire had more numbers. I don't know why my mechanic mounted all of them with the DOTs on the inside. Anyway, the last four were 2312 and so my tires were made in the 23rd week of 2012.
Tirerack now knows I'm an idiot since they have my complaint on file