• Goodyear Tire Serial Numbers

1. How to Tell the Age of Motorcycle Tires. Locate the full DOT number on the sidewall of the tire. The number starts with 'DOT' and is followed by 10 to 12 letters and numbers. The full DOT number is only on the outside of the tire. The inside will have a shortened version with just a few letters or numbers.
2. When it comes to determining the age of a tire, it is easy to identify when a tire was manufactured by reading its Tire Identification Number (often referred to as the tire's serial number). Unlike vehicle identification numbers (VINs) and the serial numbers used on many other consumer goods.

If you need to replace your car tires or figure out if your tires have been recalled by the manufacturer, you may need to locate the serial number, otherwise known as the tire identification number. You can find the serial number for your car's tires fairly quickly if you know what to look for when you are examining the tires.

When it comes to determining the age of a tire, it is easy to identify when a tire was manufactured by reading its Tire Identification Number (often referred to as the tire's serial number). Unlike vehicle identification numbers (VINs) and the serial numbers used on many other consumer goods.

Step 1

Remove a tire from your car. Position your jack under the car's frame near the wheel (consult owner's manual) and jack up the car until the tire is off the ground. Use a lug wrench to remove the lug nuts holding the tire in place. The serial number for your car's tire is located on the sidewall of the tire; however, one side may have only a partial serial number on it, so you need to take the tire off to be sure your have the whole number.

Step 2

Examine the sidewall of your car tire. The sidewall is the black part between the metal rim and the actual tread of the tire. The sidewall contains various numbers and names that designate size, brand, serial number, model and use specifications.

Identify your serial number. According to the Tire Rack website, the U.S. Department of Transportation 'requires that tire identification number be a combination of the letters DOT followed by 10, 11 or 12 letters and/or numbers that identify the manufacturing location, tire size and manufacturer's code along with the week and year the tire was manufactured.' Find the letters DOT on your sidewall and use a pen and paper to write down the 10- to 12-digit number and letter combination that follows it. If the number does not have that many digits, flip the tire over and find the complete serial number on the other side.

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The U.S. Department of Transportation--DOT--dictates what information must be provided on the sidewall of any tire sold for road use in the United States. With a little detective work and an understanding of the DOT coding system, you can determine the age of any motorcycle tire.

Step 1

Locate the full DOT number on the sidewall of the tire. The number starts with 'DOT' and is followed by 10 to 12 letters and numbers. The full DOT number is only on the outside of the tire. The inside will have a shortened version with just a few letters or numbers.

Step 2

Goodyear Tire Serial Numbers

Note the last four digits of the DOT number. They will all be numerals, such as 2708 or 0510.

Step 3

These numbers let you decode the date of manufacture of the tire. The first two numbers indicate the week; the last two the year. For example, 0510 indicates the tire was produced in the fifth week of 2010.

Subtract the tire manufacture date from the current date to determine the tire's age. To get the month of manufacture, divide the weeks by 4.3. If it is October 2010 and the tire was manufactured in the twenty-fifth week of 2008, the tire's production month was June, making the tire two years and four months old.

Tips

• Tires manufactured before the year 2000 may have a three-digit manufacture date with a single digit for the year.
• When dividing by 4.3, the month of manufacture is the next whole number. For example, 25 divided by 4.3 is 5.814, so the month would the the sixth month--June.

Warning

• Motorcycle tires are covered by a factory warranty for five or six years. Tires older than six years should not be used even if they appear to be in good condition. Older tires can develop dry rot and unseen structural damage.

• motorcycle wheel image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com

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