Tyre or Tire – What’s The Difference?

I’m sure you’ve read some articles and stuff where ‘tyre’ was used and in others, ‘tire’ was used and you have been wondering which is correct. 

This article is here to give you the necessary clarification on these two words.

What Is The Difference Between Tyre And Tire?

Depending on how you look at it, there is no difference between tyre and tire. They mean the same thing. The only noteworthy difference between the two is that they have different spellings. Apart from that, they are pronounced the same way and they both contain four letters. The reason for this difference in spelling is that they originate from different people.

The Americans spell ‘tire’ while the British spell ‘tyre’. That’s a difference. An example of a British tyre manufacturer is John Boyd Dunlop, they started manufacturing tyres in 1889. While American manufacturer Micheline started in 1950. So far so good, these two brands are quite prominent across the globe, which includes Nigeria. 

What Are Tyres/tires?

Tyres are the wheels of your automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, tricycle and other equipment. They are primarily made of rubber and without them, none of the items mentioned above will move from place to place. They fit into the wheels of a car and help the car achieve the motion that it was made for. 

How To Know Where Your Tyre Was Manufactured?

Tyres are not only made in America and Britain. They are made in several other countries across the globe including China, India, and South Korea, amongst others.

You can know where a tire was made by looking at its DOT code. You will see the Tire Identification Number (TIN) after the letters DOT. The first pair of letters and/or numbers is the plant code. There are different plant codes for different states/countries. Do well to look yours up on Google. 

How To Know The Manufacture And Expiry Date Of Your Tyre?

There are a lot of expired tyres being sold today and if you purchase any of them, it is usually a sad story.

So what can you, as a driver, do to protect yourself? When buying new tires, ask for the newest tires available,(we strongly recommend buying brand new tyres) and look at the tire’s manufacture date. The manufacture date is a Department of Transportation (DOT) code of 10 or 11 characters embossed on the inside of the tire. For new tires, the code is always 11 characters. However, tires manufactured before the year 2000 have a 10-character code. Expiration dates for tires manufactured before 2000 were based on a 10-year scale because the expected lifespan of a tire was 10 years. Current guidance suggests that tires should be expected to last a maximum of only six years. 

CONCLUSION 

Conclusively, you can use either term (tyre or tire) while in countries like Nigeria where we don’t really care about the origin of the word. But moving to countries like the UK or US, you have to use the spelling that corresponds with the country.