Tire Manufacturer Look-Up Web Site

[kcac]

I was looking for tires recently, and wanted to know where the tires were actually made. I found a NHTSA web page to decipher DOT codes, which tells you the exact plant the made the tires.

 

On a tire, the first two letters/numbers after the "DOT" marking on the sidewall is the plant code. You just get those two characters and then visit the above link selecting "Tires" in the "Search In" column and entering the two characters in the "DOT ID" field on the web page

 

Here's the site http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/manufacture/index.html

 

 

Here's another NHTSA site that explains what the markings on a tire mean, which one is the plant code, (which I already explained above), and how to determine the date the tire was manufactured.

 

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/TireSafety/ridesonit/brochure.html

 

 

 

 

 

[pwmin]

yeah, toyo was always made in japan and the quality was excellent. they were talking about moving production to the USA, but now some are made in china the china ones have different tolerances than the japanese ones and are i pia to put on. again,

[kcac]

I posted the link because I didn't want Chinese made tires, and found it useful to look up the country of origin on some "private label" tires I was considering for a Cutlass that does not get driven much.

 

Looking on Tire Rack for tires for another vehicle (minivan) that does get driven a lot. After reading the reviews, I'm convinced all tires suck and all tires are great, depending on whom you ask. I was thinking of going with BF Goodrich Traction T/A's, but the Yokohama AVID TRZ are highly rated by a wide range of drivers on Tire Rack. Never had Yokohamas before, and might give them a try.

 

[pwmin]

I posted the link because I didn't want Chinese made tires

 

good choice and thanks for the info...very, um, informative

[Turbo231]

I was thinking of going with BF Goodrich Traction T/A's, but the Yokohama AVID TRZ are highly rated by a wide range of drivers on Tire Rack. Never had Yokohamas before, and might give them a try.

 

My BFG Traction T/A are Made in the USA, per the sidewall, same as my BFG Radial T/A's. The Traction TA's were great on my GP, especially in snow and seem to be very nice on my Fiero. I haven't yet reached their traction limit yet as I start to get sick. Radial TAs are great dry, fair wet, and poor in snow. Hope that helps. I currently have 12 Radial TAs in service and 4 Traction TA's. I'm done messing with other brands of tires for summer use.