Tires: Cooper tires, Tire DOT Code

Question
I'm trying to find the date of my Cooper tires. I understand the 3 and 4 digit code following the DOT, but my code isn't numerical. It's in letter form. The code is as follows: DOT 3D35  XHH   Any of this make sense?  Thanks.

Answer
Mark,

DOT codes are a 10 to 12 digit number located near the letters "DOT".  BTW the digits can be numbers or letters.

The first 2 digits are a code for the manufacturing plant.  

The next 2 digits are a code for the tire size.  

The next 3 or 4 digits are a code for the type of tire.  

The last 3 or 4 digits are the date code.  The format is week/week/year/year or week/week/year.  

Starting in the year 2000, the date coding used is 4 digits.  That means the highest number you should see for the year is 08.  Before 1999 the format was 3 digits.  1999 and 2000 are transition years, so you will find both 3 and 4 digits.


You are missing the the last 3 or 4 digits - the date code.  Look on the other side of the tire.  The whole code is only required on one side and a partial is OK on the other.