Linda Cate

The year a tire was made appears in the last four digits of its DOT code, with the first two digits showing the week and the last two showing the year. Most tires give you the answer right on the sidewall. You do not need a shop scanner, a brand app, or any decoding tool. […]

Yes, active duty members, veterans, and reservists can get 5% off eligible tires and wheels online after ID.me verification. If you are shopping for tires, a military discount can trim the bill, but the fine print matters. Discount Tire does publish a military offer, and the current posted deal is 5% off for active duty

Tubeless bicycle tires use an airtight tire-and-rim setup with liquid sealant, which cuts many punctures and lets you ride lower pressure. Tube tires have been the default for ages, so the term “tubeless” can sound more dramatic than it is. The idea is simple: the tire seals straight to the rim, air stays inside, and

Driving on a tire below about 20 PSI is risky, and a tire 25% under your door-sticker pressure needs air before normal driving. There isn’t one universal PSI where every car becomes unsafe. The number that counts is the cold pressure on your driver’s door sticker. Once a tire falls about one-quarter below that target,

A 115H tire can carry 2,679 pounds at its rated pressure and is approved for speeds up to 130 mph. If you spot 115H on a sidewall, you’re looking at the tire’s service description. The number and letter sit near the end of the size code, and they tell you two separate things: load index

No, fresh tires don’t always need alignment, but old uneven wear, pulling, or recent suspension work make a check worth it. New tires don’t automatically mean you need a wheel alignment. That’s the part many shops blur together. Tires, balancing, and alignment are linked, yet they’re not the same job. A car can leave with

Yes, fresh tires can expose an old tracking issue or change steering feel, but new tires rarely throw alignment off by themselves. Putting on new tires can make a car feel different the second you leave the shop. The wheel may sit a touch off center. The car may drift on a road that felt

The metal fasteners that secure a wheel to the hub are called lug nuts on most cars, or lug bolts on some models. Most people say “the bolts that hold the tire on,” and that gets the point across. Still, the tire itself is not what gets fastened to the car. The wheel does. The

A tire’s sidewall shows its width, profile, construction, wheel size, load index, speed rating, and build date. Tire specs look like a jumble the first time you stare at a sidewall. Once you know the order, the code starts to read like a sentence. You can tell what wheel the tire fits, how tall the

A “35-inch” tire usually stands about 34.5 to 35 inches tall, with width, load rating, and wheel size set by the full size code. When people say they run “35s,” they’re talking about a tire class, not one exact measurement. In truck and Jeep talk, 35 is shorthand for a tire that lands near 35