Hey handsome51 (btw, I like your moniker). Anyway, I was going to ask you how often do you drive or how long in between trips your tires sit? On our ST, we replace every 4 - 5 years no matter what and they may not be as much as the ribs. Also, when we had to replace our last set of ST's, the tire shop said the only good tire we had was the spare which was up and out of the weather and free of any kind of use. I too would not buy a set of tires without checking their DOT date, but I would have to scratch my head by implying that buying a three year old set that had been on the shelf only would be considered bad. Know what I mean? For warranty sake, though I would definitely make sure the DOT was recent. Just some thoughts.