Yokohama tire markings and decoding of their designations

Do you want to choose tires for your car, but don’t understand the tire markings? No problem! We hope the information below will help you choose tires of the required size and parameters. You can obtain more complete information from our operators by phone:

(495) 545-29-45

When choosing tires, we first advise you to consult the owner's manual for your vehicle. It contains the markings of tires recommended by the manufacturer. Typically, several standard sizes are indicated depending on the season of use, the disks installed on the machine and the engine size. In our opinion, it is better not to deviate from the recommendations of the car manufacturer and not to install tires of other markings on the car.

If you don’t have the treasured book (manual) at hand, then just go to your car and read what is written on the sidewall of the tire.

Let's take a closer look at the markings using the example of the Hankook Ventus V12 Evo tire:

Typically the size looks like this: 225/45 R17 94Y

Where: 225 – tire width in mm (see figure), 45 – proportionality, i.e. ratio of profile height to width. In this case it is equal to 45%. In short, with the same width, the larger this indicator, the taller the tire will be and vice versa. This value is usually called “profile height”. If this ratio is not indicated (for example 185/R14С) then it is equal to 80-82%.

R – means radial tire. 17 – wheel (disk) diameter in inches.

Speed ​​and load indices

94 – load index. This is the level of the maximum permissible load on the wheel. For passenger cars, it is usually done with a reserve and is not a decisive value when choosing tires; in our case, IN is 94 - 670 kg (see table).

Load index 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120

Max. Load (in kg.) 335 387 450 515 600 690 800 925 1060 1215 1400

Y – speed index. The larger it is, the higher the speed you can drive on a given tire, in our case IS – Y – up to 300 km/h (see table).

Speed ​​index JKLMNPQRSTUHV VR WY ZR

Max. Speed ​​(km/h) 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 >240 210 270 300 >240

American tire size designations.

There are two different markings for American tires.

The first is very similar to the European one, only the letters “P” (Passanger - for a passenger car) or “LT” (Light Truck) are placed in front of the standard size. For example: P 195/60 R 14 or LT 235/75 R15.

And another marking, which is fundamentally different from the European one. In our opinion, it is the most incomprehensible for the average consumer.

For example: 31x10.5 R15 (corresponds to European standard size 265/75 R15)

31 is the outer diameter of the tire in inches. 10.5 - tire width in inches. R – radial tire. 15 is the inner diameter of the tire in inches.

Trademark, brand

Product name, model

Country of origin, production

This information indicates the country of manufacture of the tire.

Other information indicated on the sidewall of the tire

An indicator of the degree of wear of the tire tread, upon reaching which the tire should be discontinued. On tires from other manufacturers, the wear indicator may be different from that shown in the photo.

Information about the type of drawing.

Radial - means that it is a radial tire. Tubeless - tubeless tire. If this inscription is absent, the tire can only be used with a tube.

Letter E (circled) - the tire meets the European requirements of ECE (Economic Commission for Europe)

DOT (Department of Transportation - US Department of Transportation) - American quality standard. Encoded manufacturer information.

Rotation and the arrow on the sidewall of the tire indicate a directional tire. When installing the tire, you must strictly observe the direction of rotation of the tire indicated by the arrow.

Max Pressure - maximum permissible tire pressure, in kPa.

Max Load - maximum permissible load on the tire, in kg.

Materials used and number of layers.

The date of manufacture of the tire is written in the form of four digits in an oval, for example 2706 - the first two digits are the week of manufacture, the next two are the year of manufacture, in our example June 2006.

Year of manufacture of the tire: how to find out

Many car enthusiasts, when purchasing new or used tires, often ask how to determine the year of manufacture of the tire. Everyone knows that, regardless of use, any product gets stale and deteriorates, and tires are no exception. If a driver buys a new product, but it had been in a warehouse for 5 years before being installed on his car, then most likely there are microcracks on the sole and side surface, and the rubber mixture has gradually entered into a chemical reaction with impurities in the air, several worsening traction properties and grip quality.

Tire production date - marking

Therefore, experienced motorists, before purchasing wheels, always carefully study the markings on the product profile, determine the original origin of the tire, ensure compliance with the declared characteristics and, of course, find out the exact date of production, in particular:

• If we are talking about new products, then, of course, they should be released in the 21st century, that is, after 2000. It was from this period that tire manufacturers agreed on a new international standard for marking on the side cord of the product, consisting of 4 numbers. In this case, the driver should read the code in 2 digits, and each pair means a specific number: the first two characters are the serial number of the week in the current year, and the second two are the year of manufacture, where it is necessary to imply 20 in front of it. Particular attention should be paid to goods offered on sale at significant discounts, as the seller may well try to disguise defects or temporary wear and tear of tire materials under a low price. So, if a motorist goes into a store and a new original tire Br >

  
  Correct storage of tires without rims

• How to find out the year of manufacture of a tire? When a driver is going to purchase a used tire or a used car, which he inspects before purchasing, the tires may have been produced before the year 2000 - in the 90s or 80s. True, identifying such products is very simple due to the difference in international marking standards - all wheels produced before the new century had a 3-digit designation.
• Thus, the number 207 represents the 14th week or mid-May of 1988 or 1998. To distinguish the year 80 from the year 90, just look at the nature of the marking - if the three-digit code is written on its own, then this is an older tire, and the triangle after the year designation means production in the 90s.

What about seasonality?

As you know, before replacing wheels and rims on your car, you need to understand what season you are preparing for. Therefore, if winter is approaching, then you need to buy a winter kit. Or, on the contrary, at the end of a long winter, you can finally think about a summer set. By the way, read how to store tires here.

But how do you know which tire is which and for what season it is intended? You can ask the seller when purchasing. However, you need to understand what we are talking about and how the decryption process itself occurs. Otherwise, you would not be interested in this article. You are a responsible car owner who wants to know as much as possible about cars and their components.

• AS or All Seasons. If you speak at least a little English, it will not be difficult to understand. These are all-season tires. That is, these are the same controversial kits that are used throughout the year - winter and summer;
• R.W. Mean Road and Winter. These wheels are used in normal and winter conditions. Essentially, this is a type of all-season tire;
• AW. Any Weather. All-weather tires, about which there is again a lot of controversy regarding the validity of this statement;
• M S. There may be a dot, & or + between them. It is not so important. The important thing is that these are tires for winter and driving on melted snow. The car will be able to shovel out snow porridge well, but at too low temperatures and icy surfaces it will not work as efficiently;
• Snowflake icon. Mountain peaks serve as the background. These are winter tires that grip well to snowy and icy road surfaces;
• Umbrella icon. Or it may say Aquatred. These are rain tires.

Where to look for the tire production date among all the designations

As a rule, if you look closely at a new high-quality tire produced by a well-known brand, you can always see a lot of symbols on it, among which it is very easy to get confused, but all the lines are systematized, and their order is repeated regardless of the brand, model and other factors, namely:

• How to determine the production date of a tire? On most of the side cord, as a rule, the name of the company that produced the product is emblazoned with a logo and in a familiar font. Thus, manufacturers often advertise their own products, which are used on any highway.
• The second important indicator that can be seen with the naked eye is the tire size, which consists of 3 parameters - sole width and profile height in mm, as well as the tire size marked R, which means diameter in inches.
• Here, manufacturers often write advantages for use in various road conditions, for example, all-season tires are labeled as M + S, or mud and snow, which translated from English means “dirt” and “snow”. In addition, off-road tires often have the indices NT, HP, AT, MT, indicating the versatility of the wheel.

Prolonged sun exposure to tires

• The second line of markings on the tire, located in close proximity to the place of fixation on the rim of the disk, means less significant parameters required by law - all 5 indices listed above, also the Department of Transportation Security code, product code in the form of the manufacturer's serial number and, finally, the date of manufacture of the product in a 4-digit format, which was decrypted earlier.

Indexes

It is important to understand that each type of transport has its own specialized tires with key features, design nuances, and so on. After all, you can buy separately tires for ATVs, bicycles, trucks and cars, or for SUVs. Try putting wheels from some kind of car on a frame SUV. It is unlikely that anything good will come of this.

One of the main characteristics of any tires - winter, summer or all-season - are indexes. Namely, a couple of these same indices.

1. Load index. The designation is given in numbers from 0 to 279, where zero is the minimum load on the tire in kg (45 kg), and 279 is the maximum and provides a load of up to 136 thousand kilograms. As you understand, in the latter case we are talking about the production of agricultural tires for special vehicles, some kind of powerful loader with an increased maximum load.
2. Speed ​​index. It means what maximum speed a car can reach on these specific tires. Here the designation is given in letters, where A1-A8 corresponds to 5-40 km/h, and Y - 300 km/h.

The corresponding table for each index is attached.

How to prevent premature aging of rubber

To prevent this detrimental effect, below are practical tips from experienced experts on how to carefully store wheels without using them:

• It is best if each tire is stored in a separate matte bag, then it will be completely protected from the settling of dust and other chemical impurities from the atmosphere, and polyethylene also protects the product from direct sunlight. It also follows that during storage, direct exposure to daylight should be avoided, because ultraviolet radiation destroys some of the binding elements from the tire composition.
• It happens that rubber is stored not as an independent product, but as part of a wheel assembly, and often drivers leave it in this state for the entire season with increased pressure. In this case, it is very important to ensure that this indicator is within the normal range, because excess pressure will lead to stretching of the tire and a gradual weakening of its sole, which causes hernias. And if the wheel is not inflated, then bends, cracks and fractures are possible. In both cases, further operation will be impossible.
• If the tires are worn out, then seasonal re-shoeing of the car will be a good check of their condition, because car enthusiasts have the opportunity to examine them from all sides to determine their further suitability. So, in a situation where a wheel has uneven wear due to a technical malfunction of the suspension or poorly adjusted wheel alignment, the driver will have to take care of purchasing new tires, since further storage and use of the previous ones leads to rupture of the cylinders on the road.

Uneven tire wear

The manufacturing date of tires is a very important detail when purchasing them. Like many other products, rubber compounds are prone to aging. Accordingly, after several years of improper storage from purchasing tires that have never been used before, motorists should abandon the dubious deal, because no manufacturer can guarantee safety due to the loss of most of the performance properties.

*Prices shown are current as of February 2022.

Yokohama tires are one of the most common brands. The service life of rubber is long, but the longer it sits in storage, the shorter it becomes.

Everyone should know how to determine the production time of rubber, and everyone can learn this right now. This information will help you pay exclusively for quality.

What causes tires to age?

External factors

The aging process is accelerated by three main factors:

1. elevated temperature or frequent temperature changes;
2. high humidity;
3. exposure to direct sunlight.

It is important to properly store summer and winter tires, protecting them from threatening external factors. By observing storage conditions, you extend the “life” of tires - their elasticity remains at an acceptable level for a long time.

Storage conditions

Tires are quite picky about storage conditions: in order for them to retain their original properties for a long time, they must be stored correctly.

Proper storage is the key to maintaining tire performance

• It is better to keep new tires in plastic bags. They protect the rubber from direct exposure to sunlight and minimize the contact of the tire with the environment.
• The room where tires are stored must be well ventilated. The temperature here is in the range of 0 – 200. In addition, high humidity should not be allowed, otherwise the rubber components will begin to deteriorate.
• Tires cannot be stacked on top of each other. Such storage leads to deformation of tires, which means a decrease in their quality and elasticity.

Storing tires according to the rules is a task that requires control. Consequently, the longer tires remain in storage, the higher the risk that their properties and resources are no longer at that high level.

Quality and initial characteristics of products

The properties of tires, their durability and wear resistance largely depend on the quality of the rubber. Accordingly, they depend on the manufacturer, who selects raw materials for products manufactured under his brand.

Choose tires from proven and well-known manufacturers

The largest companies invest enormous amounts of money in the development of unique compounds - they are added to rubber, making it as resistant to aging as possible.

Find out the production date of tires at a car dealership - the result in a few seconds

By visiting a car accessories showroom and choosing the right Yokohama tires for yourself, the driver can find out right on the spot which

month and year they were made. To obtain information you need:

• take the rubber in your hands and inspect all its sides;
• on one side of the tire, find markings that include several numbers and symbols;
• pay attention to the last 3 or 4 digits in the list of all symbols;
• see what exactly these numbers are.

The last four digits of the Yokohama tire marking will be the date of manufacture. The first two numbers represent the month in which production took place, and the last two represent the year. The marking can also be three-digit. The presence of three numbers and two stars on the sidewall of a Yokohama tire means that they were produced before 2000.

Instructions for determining production time

For example, you can take a standard tire from a European brand. Here you can determine the production time in this way.

1. Carefully examine the sidewalls of the rubber and find the DOT combination.
2. This strip may contain numbers, letters and other symbols.
3. You need to move to the end of the line, where you highlight the last 4 digits.
4. The first two talk about the week, and the last two talk about the year when the product left the assembly line.

Determining the date and year of manufacture of automobile tires by DOT code

The International Department of Transportation Safety leaves its marks on all high-quality automotive products, and Yokohama tires belong to this number. If there is a DOT code and other manufacturer information on the side of the tire, and the year of manufacture is missing for some reason, the driver can easily determine it via the Internet.

To find out the year of manufacture of tires for a car by TSA code, do the following:

• 
  enter the search engine and enter the following query - “determining the year of manufacture of Yokohama tires by DOT code”;

• after issuing the address of the desired site, go to it;
• enter the present tire marking symbols in a special line;
• wait for a response from the system.

Within a few minutes the user should receive the information that interests him. If the buyer is not able to independently connect to the World Wide Web and check data on Yokohama products, he should ask the store’s employees for help. They do not have the right to refuse to provide their client with information about the product that interests him.

Tube vs tubeless

If you see the designation Tubeless on a tire, then this is a tubeless version of the tire. They are also marked TL. Their peculiarity is that air enters the tires directly through the nipple.

Chamber ones are designated differently - TT or Tube Type. Air is pumped through a chamber made of rubber. The camera itself is located inside the tire.

I'll be honest, chamber designs are already outdated. Yes, they are also relevant for bicycles or some simple modes of transport. But tubeless analogues are gradually replacing them.

I found several objective advantages why it is better to take TL tires:

• they weigh less because they do not contain a rubber chamber inside;
• they have a simplified design;
• if a puncture occurs, the TL tire begins to deflate slowly and gradually;
• TL has significantly less overheating, and therefore their service life is longer compared to TT.

Several additional design symbols

• If you want tires that can be deepened (tread) by regrooving, then choose Regroovable;
• XL means that you have a tire with a higher load index (by 4 units);
• Rainforced. What does this mean? And the fact that this is rubber with a high load index;
• Directional and asymmetrical are marked Inside and Outside, telling the car owner which side to place the wheel on the car;
• Rotation with an arrow indicates the directional tread pattern and shows where the tire should rotate.

Not a single method worked - what do these indicators say?

High-quality, original Yokohama car tires always have markings on their sidewalls, which help determine their year of manufacture and find out information about the manufacturer. The motorist can also determine this data using the Transportation Security Department code. If this could not be done using both methods, then we can say that:

• It was not possible to find out the year of manufacture of the tires because they are fake;
• the tires have been damaged in some way and the information on their sidewalls is not displayed correctly;
• The tires have been in storage for many years and therefore it is not possible to determine their year of manufacture.

If these factors are present, you should not buy such tires for your car, because their quality is in question. High-quality Yokohama products are always labeled and do not stagnate in the warehouses of retail outlets for a long time. If the buyer has questions even about labeled products, they should additionally ask for a certificate confirming the quality. A motorist will be able to determine the year of manufacture of tires in two minutes. When purchasing, you should look at each tire separately, because you cannot be sure that they are from the same batch.

The last three or four digits that are present in the total number of marking symbols always indicate the year of manufacture of the product. This standard applies equally to all tire models. If a product has problems with such indicators, it is most likely of poor quality.

Expert conclusions and recommendations

Expert recommendations will help you choose the right tires and keep them in working condition for a long time.

1. The production date of the tire is marked on its sidewall and is a four-digit code in an oval stamp.
2. The first two digits of the code indicate the month of manufacture, the next two - the year.
3. Even if tires are not used, they wear out and lose their elasticity. This process is accelerated significantly if tires are stored incorrectly.
4. Tires in the warehouse should be stored in special plastic bags that protect them from scratches, excessive heat and direct sun.
5. The main signs of an “old” tire are small cracks on the sides and a white coating. Driving a car with such tires puts both yourself and your passengers at risk.
6. If possible, park your car in the shade, away from the open sun. Taking such care of your car will preserve its color and coating, protect the interior from overheating and delay the aging of rubber.
7. Monitor tire pressure. Due to incorrect pressure, the tire overheats and wears out quickly.
8. If the tires are worn unevenly on different sides, this is a good reason to go to a service center for a wheel alignment. Simply installing new tires is not the solution; they will also quickly become unusable.

Choose high-quality tires, follow their storage and maintenance conditions - and then they will not let you down.

Source

Maximum load table

This parameter is responsible for the load-carrying capacity of the tire. The tire load index is expressed as a number and is located in the area before the speed indicator.

Analysis of markings using an example

To finally understand the decoding of the sizes and other characteristics of passenger car tires, let’s look at a real example. Let's say we have a tire with the following markings:

Meaning of marking

What can we find out?

• Tire size. Bore diameter 16 inches. The tire width is 205 mm, and the height is 55% of the width - 110 mm.
• Construction type – radial.
• Load index 91, which means a maximum permissible load of 615 kg (see table above).
• Speed ​​index V (240 km/h).
• Wear index 360 - average wear resistance.
• Temperature mode A – the best resistance to high temperatures.
• Tubeless - tubeless tires.

In the photo you can also see the inscription Outside, which means that the tires have an asymmetric tread. The make and model are not visible in the picture, but identifying it will not be difficult even for a completely inexperienced driver.

What do the colored marks on the wheel mean?

Small colored markings can be seen on many tires. They assist in correct installation and are available in red, green and yellow.

• A yellow circle or triangle indicates the easiest place, opposite which the disk spool should be located.
• The red mark is the densest place. During installation, it must be installed opposite the L mark, which is located on the disk.
• The green circle is the factory designation for the initial installation of the tire.

Red color mark

Many drivers notice colored stripes on the working surface of the rubber. These marks do not carry any meaning; they are used in factories and warehouses for loading and unloading operations and storing tires.

Manufacturer

With the advent of more and more new brands, it often becomes difficult for a car enthusiast to make a choice in favor of the only correct solution. In addition, such abundance plays into the hands of all sorts of scammers who, under the guise of a global brand, sell “home-made” low-quality products. To do this, it is extremely important to distinguish a fake from a genuine branded product.

Marking indicating the authenticity of the manufacturer is expressed by the presence of the acronym DOT. In addition, immediately after the presented designation there must be a code of the country of manufacture.

The fact is that most tire manufacturers have many branches located in different parts of the world. Each country of a specific manufacturer is assigned a unique two-digit code. Information about that cipher is not widely distributed. Nevertheless, on some resources you can find a number of articles devoted to deciphering these codes.

Load capacity

An important indicator of a ramp is its carrying capacity. This characteristic allows us to judge the maximum load on a tire at which it does not lose its performance.

This criterion is taken into account by the manufacturer when producing tires of all kinds.

To correctly select tires taking into account this parameter, it is necessary to take into account a number of factors:

• car weight;
• purpose of the vehicle;
• terms of Use.

The marking indicating the load capacity of a tire in most cases correlates with its load index. Once the owner has decided on the choice of the required load capacity value, he just needs to select the appropriate marking from the summary table of load indexes.