[Carl n Susan]

I have a hard time believing the tires were 7 years old. Montana gets tires on a JIT basis from Tredit. The tires are already mounted on rims. There is no room at the Montana factory to store 7 years worth of tires. I doubt Tredit has the space either.

What kind of tires were these? A 7 year old tire on a 2012 would be a 2005 version. That would have been a Tacoma brand (made by Cooper in the USA) and the last of the LT tires which were standard on Montanas at that time. Around 2006-2007, Montana used a China built POS tire (isn't that redundant?) which I have forgotten the name of (not Marathon and the damn Search function is broken and can't help).

The tire date code is pretty easy to read but you have to remember it is only stamped on one side of the tire (usually the inside sidewall). I think someone was mistaken about the date code. But it is a good idea to always check the date code on any tire one acquires.