What does a DOT Code tell me about my tyres?
Tuesday 7th June 2022Knowing the age of your tyre is a valuable step in making sure that your tyres are safe when driving on the road.
Do tyres expire?
A tyre is still considered to be fit for sale 5 years from the date of production, although your tyres can live beyond this date. It’s recommended that you replace them after 6-10 years; beyond this time, your tyres may look safe, but could become brittle over the years due to UV exposure.
How can I find out the age of my tyre?
By law, all tyre manufacturers must include the tyre ‘DOT Code’ on the side wall of car and truck tyres. Tyres manufactured after the year 2000 will have four digits broken down into week number and year. If your tyre is older than 2000 we recommend replacing it as soon as possible.
My DOT code only has 3 numbers?
A three-digit DOT code represents any tyres manufactured before the year 2000. Similar to the 4-digit dot code, the first two digits represent the week number, with the third digit representing the last number of the year. For example, 258 would identify a tyre manufactured in the 25th week of 1998.
What is a DOT Code?
DOT code (Department of Transportation) outlines the location of manufacture, tyre size, the unique identifier for the manufacturer and the year and month of production.
If you need to find this identifier, it will be prefixed with the word “DOT”, firstly outlining the manufacturer’s information, then the circled section states the week and year of production, which you can see an example of in the image above. You can use our handy DOT decoder below, which will allow you to find out the exact age of your tyre in years and months.
I can’t find my DOT code
If you still can’t locate your DOT code, it may be on the inner side of the tyre, meaning you may have to crawl under the vehicle to check it. Some tyres can be mounted to the wheel in either direction, but the DOT code is only visible on one side of the tyre.
Tyre DOT code Decoder
If you have located your DOT code but you are struggling to interpret it, we’ve got a handy tyre DOT code decoder below, which can help you translate your DOT code to a specific month and year.
