Tire Info for the Auto Inept

As a single person, I have to do all home maintenance myself--which extends to my car. However, I admit that I am a Girl, with a capital G. There's so much to know about maintenance I can't possibly master it all. I get overwhelmed and feel I need to set a boundary somewhere. So I tend to leave car maintenance to my dad, or worse, to a mechanic, who could dupe me straight out of all my money for my lack of knowledge.

Today I stumbled upon a page that describes how to determine the age of a tire. Turns out, it's simple, and knowing the age of your tires can help you to figure out the length of your warranty.

From the page:

When it comes to determining the age of a tire, it is easy to identify when a tire was manufactured by reading its Tire Identification Number (often referred to as the tire’s serial number). Unlike vehicle identification numbers (VINs) and the serial numbers used on many other consumer goods (which identify one specific item), Tire Identification Numbers are really batch codes that identify the week and year the tire was produced.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requires that Tire Identification Numbers be a combination of the letters DOT, followed by ten, eleven or twelve letters and/or numbers that identify the manufacturing location, tire size and manufacturer's code, along with the week and year the tire was manufactured.

The page at tirerack.com goes into detail, so please check it out. I haven't taken much time to browse other areas of the site, but this subject was explained in such easily understood terms that the site could be a great resource for other car info.

Where did you pick up your car knowledge? Do you do simple maintenance, like oil changes, yourself, or pay for all services? How do you find the time to fit car maintenance in with home and pet responsibilities? If you have any tips for me, please leave a comment on the blog