Every tyre has a date code moulded into its sidewall: four digits for the week and year it was made. Type them in below and you get the date. The code works the same way on tyres sold in Japan. What it gives you is a date, not a verdict on the tyre.
Read a date code
| What's on the tyre | How to read it | Example | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four digits at the end of the code, often in an oval window (tyres made from 2000) | The first two digits are the week and the last two are the year | 0322 = week 3 of 2022 | gov.uk |
| Three digits at the end of the code (tyres made before 2000) | The first two digits are the week and the last digit is the last digit of the year (before 2000) | 159 = week 15 of 1999 | jatma.or.jp |
| Other letters and numbers before the date, sometimes in the same window | They are other codes; Toyo says the letters before its digits identify the factory. Read only the last four digits | PW20 then 3790322 on our car: the date is 0322 | ontheroad.toyotires.jp |
| Two date codes on one tyre | A retreaded tyre can carry the original date and the date it was retreaded; the MOT manual says to use the most recent | - | gov.uk |
| No date on the side you can see | The date only has to be marked on one side of the tyre. Look at the other side | - | gov.uk |
Data checked 4 October 2026 · 5 rows
How to read it yourself
- Find the window. The date is usually in a small raised oval on the sidewall, at or near the end of the long code that starts with DOT. It only has to be on one side of the tyre, so if you can't see it, look at the other side.
- Take the last four digits. The first two are the week, the last two are the year. 0322 means week 3 of 2022.
- Three digits means an older tyre. Before 2000 the code was three digits: the week and the last digit of the year.
Our own car's tyre
We photographed the wheels of our own Toyota Prius α on 1 October 2026. On the rear tyre, a Toyo, the window on the sidewall reads 3790322. The date is the last four digits, 0322: week 3 of 2022, so the tyre was made about four years and eight months before the photo. Toyo's own guide says the same thing: read the last four digits of the code.
In the photo of the whole wheel, the kind of photo a listing shows, those digits are a smudge. They only became readable when we zoomed in on the full-size photo. So if the age of the tyres matters to you, a listing photo almost certainly won't tell you. Ask for a close-up of the four digits on each tyre, and on the spare.
The code tells you when the tyre was made. It doesn't tell you its condition, or whether it's the right tyre for your car. On a viewing we photograph the tyres, but we don't judge them, as our page on engine start videos explains. Send us the listing if you'd like the tyres photographed on the car.
In the UK
The MOT manual for cars explains the same code: three or four digits, the first two the week, the last two the year, and a three-digit code meaning the tyre is more than 10 years old. It also says the MOT's tyre age check applies to vehicles with more than eight passenger seats, so it isn't part of the test on an ordinary car. Japan's tyre makers' association and the tyre makers publish their own guidance on older tyres; we don't give advice on when a tyre should be replaced.
What the code can't tell you
- The tyre's condition. Cracks, wear and damage are separate from age, and a date code says nothing about them.
- How it was stored. Two tyres made the same week can have had very different lives.
- When it was fitted. The code is when the tyre was made, not when it went on this car.
- Anything about a tyre with no visible code. The date only has to be on one side, so a missing code in a photo may just be on the side facing the car.
Questions to ask the dealer
- A close-up photo of the four-digit date on each tyre, and on the spare if there is one
- The other side of the tyre, if the date isn't on the side facing out
Sources
- How to read the code, the three-digit codes, one-side marking, retreads and which vehicles the MOT age check covers: DVSA, MOT inspection manual for cars, section 5.2.3, checked 4 October 2026
- The same reading for tyres in Japan, including the three-digit codes before 2000: Japan Automobile Tyre Manufacturers Association (JATMA), riding safely (in Japanese), checked 4 October 2026
- Reading the last four digits of a Toyo code, and the letters before them identifying the factory: Toyo Tires, how to check when a tyre was made (in Japanese), checked 4 October 2026
- Our own car's tyre: photographed on 1 October 2026
Want the date on all four tyres before you decide? Send us the link.