Quick Introduction

Welcome to tiretaxonomy.com!

Simply start typing some of the “tire code” text from the side of your tire into the text box, and this site will attempt to extract its information and display it in a readable manner.

Origins

This site was born of a simple need: to be rid of some tires that were defiantly piled high in my dining room, “winter” tires that had come with a car that had long since moved on. Scouring my tires for any identifying information that could help me find them a new purpose (rolling someone else’s car through the snow and slush) revealed a plethora of cryptic text and symbols. I eventually deciphered enough of these markings to find them a new home, but it was a slow and tedious exercise.

However, once I had taken the time to study and understand my tires, I started noticing tires everywhere. Tires reveal a surprising amount of detail about themselves, stamped directly onto their carcasses, but it is conveyed in their own language, terse and nuanced. Theirs is a small microcosm, hiding plainly and humbly in the dusty space between vehicle chassis and the roads.

I created this site with the goal of building a simple translation tool that would allow anyone to interrogate a tire without needing to learn its subtle language, or manually decipher the meaning of each code or symbol it wears. The process should instead be quick and casual, even conversational.

This site is a passion project driven by my interest in learning more about the terse codes found on tire walls, as well as the technical challenge of building a functional, elegant tool with which to decode them. I am neither a mechanic nor a professional tire consultant, just an amateur tire-spotter and software developer. The information contained on this site has been gleaned from around the web and may be inaccurate. I do not have access to any official tire specification documents.

More about this site

There are dozens of possible symbols and codes a tire can wear, but only a few convey a majority of its essential information. This site can decode two of the most common tire codes:

The eponymous “tire code”, which mostly describes a tire’s dimensions. This site can decode both the European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation (ETRTO), and the Tire and Rim Association (TRA), variations of the standard ISO Metric Tire Code.
The “Load Index and Speed Rating” (sometimes referred to as the “service description”) code, often found directly following the above mentioned “tire code”. It indicates the maximum load a tire can support, and the maximum speed at which it can safely convey a vehicle.

In the future this site will be capable of decoding additional codes and symbols, including:

The Department of Transportation (DOT) code, which indicates a tire’s age and origin.
“Light Truck” and “High Flotation” variations of the main “tire code”.
Many of the shorter, more isolated codes and symbols, such as the ubiquitous “M+S” symbol which indicates a tire is “Mud and Snow” capable.
Various manufacturer-specific text, such as a tire’s make and model.