349
Operation
Tires and wheels
DOT, Tire Identification Number (TIN)
U.S. tire regulations require each new tire
manufacturer or tire retreader to mold a
TIN into or onto a sidewall of each tire
produced.
The TIN is a unique identifier which facili-
tates efforts by tire manufactures to notify
purchasers in recall situations or other
safety matters concerning tires and gives
purchasers the means to easily identify
such tires.
The TIN is comprised of “Manufacturer’s
identification mark”, “Tire size”, “Tire type
code” and “Date of manufacture”.
1 DOT
2 Manufacturer’s identification mark
3 Tire size
4 Tire type code (at the option of the tire
manufacturer)
5 Date of manufacture
DOT (D
epartment of Transportation)
A tire branding symbol 1 (
୴ page 349)
which denotes the tire meets require-
ments of the U.S. Department of Transpor-
tation.
Manufacturer’s identification mark
The manufacturer’s identification mark 2
(
୴ page 349) denotes the tire
manufacturer.
New tires have a mark with two symbols.
Retreaded tires have a mark with four sym-
bols. For more information on retreaded
tires, see (
୴ page 328).
Tire size
The code 3 (
୴ page 349) indicates the
tire size.
i
For illustration purposes only. Actual
data on tires are specific to each vehi-
cle and may vary from data shown in
above illustration.