Having recently purchased a modern classic from an AA accredited used car dealer I will draw everyone's attention to a problem I encountered in the hope of sharpening others awareness. The car in question is 20 years old & in excellent condition, during my first viewing/test drive I was pleased to note that all the tyres had a good tread & was further reassured by a new MOT without advisories. I bought the car a few days later & having got home (& put my reading glasses on) I thought to study the DOT codes & found to my horror that the tyres were between 13 & 19 years old. Raising my concerns with the dealer resulted in the statement that the recently passed MOT meant the car was both fully legal & serviceable, sadly in that respect he is correct as, despite the ever tightening test requirements, there is still no limit to the AGE of a tyre although various independent tests have proved conclusively that age hardened rubber can result in serious handling/braking issues. So next time you buy a car check the DOT dates as well as the tread depth. nb: the perfectly legal 1.6mm tread depth (over 75% of the tread width) gives you b....r all grip in the wet, I change my tyres at 3mm.