Tire knowledge, decoded.
Every number on a sidewall means something. Every tread block was designed on purpose. TireBase turns dense engineering standards into guides, calculators and explainers you can actually use — for cars, bikes, ATVs, forklifts and everything in between.
Start with the fundamentals
Four articles that explain 80% of what people search for about tires.
How to Read a Tire Sidewall
Section width, aspect ratio, load index, speed rating, UTQG, DOT date code and the symbols nobody explains. One page, every marking.
Why Are Tires Black?
They started out white. A 1910 filler discovery made them black, multiplied tread life roughly fivefold, and quietly became the reason your tires survive sunlight.
Solid vs Pneumatic vs Foam-Filled
Three ways to make a tire that never goes flat — and three very different answers on ride comfort, heat buildup, load capacity and cost per operating hour.
Science · 11 minThe Science of Winter Tires
Why 45°F (7°C) is the switching point, what a sipe actually does at the contact patch, and why the 3PMSF snowflake means more than M+S.
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Tire Size Comparison
Compare two sizes side by side: overall diameter, section width, sidewall height, revolutions per mile and speedometer error.
ConverterPressure Calculator
PSI ↔ bar ↔ kPa, plus cold-pressure correction for temperature swings and a load-based inflation reference.
DecoderDOT Date Code
Type the four digits after DOT and find out the exact week your tire was cured — and whether it is too old to trust.
CalculatorTread Depth & Life
Convert 32nds to millimetres, interpret the penny and quarter tests, and estimate the miles left before replacement.
Browse by tire family
The same physics, twenty very different applications.
Car, SUV & pickup tires
Radial construction, UTQG ratings, load index tables, all-season vs summer vs winter, and how EV-specific tires differ.
PowersportsATV, UTV & motorcycle
Imperial 27×11R14 sizing, ply ratings that no longer count plies, and matching tread to mud, sand or rock.
Road, gravel & MTB
Why “26 inch” describes at least five incompatible sizes, and how the three-digit ETRTO number ends the confusion.
IndustrialForklift & material handling
Press-on band vs pneumatic-profile solid, three-layer compound construction, and why heat — not wear — kills solid tires.
Inner TubesTubes & mousse inserts
Butyl holds air, latex rolls faster, TPU weighs nothing, mousse cannot puncture. Measured trade-offs, not marketing.
SeasonalWinter & all-weather
Glass transition temperature, silica compounds, sipe density, studs vs studless, and how to read the 3PMSF symbol.
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