[A/S] Tires

["Richard P. Kenan" <as5368@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, everyone:

     Just FYI:
     At the recent Georgia Unit Fall Rally,at Top of Georgia, one of 
the regional officers (1-st Vice President, I think) spoke for the 
absent Doug Showker on safety matters.  He pointed out that hitch 
platforms on a number of popular tow vehicles (including Suburbans, 
still) need frequent inspection to look for cracks and/or loose
bolts. 
The loose-bolt problem is especially bad on older Suburbans, whose 
platforms are held in place by only 4 bolts (vs the current 6).
     He also explained to us about some tire problems.  The firestone 
recall list is kind of old news and is available on their web site.  
However, he pointed out that Goodyear Marathon ST tires in load range 
D may be subject to a recall.  You can tell by looking at the 
sidewall, where it says "Goodyear Marathon"  If "Marathon" is NOT 
followed by a symbol consisting of an "S" inside an oval (i.e., 
Marathon <S>, with the <> replacing the oval symbol), then the tire
is 
subject to a recall.  Only for the load range D tires.  The Goodyear 
number to check the procedures is 1-800-321-2136.
     In case you want to check on the date of manufacture of your 
Marathon tires, the date code follows the "DOT" gibberish that
appears 
on all tires.  Inside another oval will be a 3 or a 4 digit number.  
For the 3-digit numbers, the first two represent the number of the 
week in the year of manufacture, and the last one completes the year 
date as 198x.  Later tires have 4-digit numbers, with the first two 
being the week of the year of manufacture, and the last two 
representing the year (He did not say that the 90s would be 4 digit, 
but the date code for 198x cannot cover the 90s, so it seems logical 
that they would be covered by four digits. Of course, "logical" may
be 
a poor choice of words here.
     I can verify that the year 2000 codes contain 4 digits, as I
just 
checked two of mine (you may have to look on the inside sidewall for 
the DOT codes; why do you suppose they are put there?) and they are 
2300 and 3200, representing late May, 2000, and early August, 2000.

- Dick
(5368)