DOT or NOT?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that certain Bias-ply DOT drag tires are signaling "Not for highway use" on their side walls even though they are advertised as DOT's. Is this an attempt to protect themselves from a suit for such tires being used on the street before and during an accident?
I'm mean, we all know not to drive any of these Bias-ply or Radial stickies in any kind of wet weather, but is this the start of a new trend?

Just wondering because I just inspected my older "Hoosier Quick time Pros" and all they say is DOT on the sidewall by the beads and I seem to remember that the new editions are saying "Not for highway use"

Whats up?

Most likely the "Not for highway use" is there to limit any liability by the manufacturer.

Yeah I think it is a case of covering their rears. The 275 Pro Radial carries the same warning I believe.

Funny, but not surprising because my current QTP's have DOT only on their sides. Must have been from an old batch back when. How times change.

If you have M/T Pro Radials they are not DOT approved.

My ET Street Pro's have the DOT info on them but not sure if that means they are DOT approved?!

The 275 Pro is, it has "tread". The Pro Bracket Radials are not, they don't list them in metric sizes just inches.

I do have 28x10.5 Pro Bracket Radials, not DOT but they have been a really good tire and they look new after 100 passes.

The M/T 275-60 ET Street Radial Pro does indeed have a big "DOT" on the sidewall. It also has the "not for highway use" label.

Its just a way of creating a tire for a particular class. Hoosier now makes an 8" slick for new SEGA SS class.Who wants an 8" slick but there is a need and a manufacturer is filling it. Everyone is over thinking this.

We are talking race tires here. And as with anything race oriented, there are compromises to be made for street use. Drag race tires are more expensive, don't like wet surfaces, don't last nearly as long, etc. While I am sure that the 'not for hiway use' is butt covering 101, the tires can build up a lot of heat at sustained hiway speeds. I run short distances at hiway speeds with my DRs and know of a lot of other guys that do too and I have not heard of any problems. But running extended distances at hiway speeds is rolling the dice to some extent. It's just not what the tires were designed and built to do.

GY3. That is exactly the designation on my QTP's, but with none of the "Not for Highway use" signage like yours have.
Just as a friendly reminder to everyone, if ever an accident were to happen on a public road and your supposed DOT tires are not really DOT. It can create a mess. Drive carefully and try and keep clear of wet conditions. If it rains, pull off the road and wait it out.

A friend of mine for not listening to me crashed his car on the highway while wearing a pair of M/T Drag radials coming from a day at the track. The tires had plenty of tread on them but to no avail on a slight uphill 40 % turn. The road was slightly wet and he swung, hit the wall with the front drivers fender, swung again and landed on his passenger quarter, almost destroying a beautiful and fast car. Thank the heavens that he did not hurt anyone else. I had to block two lanes with my Diplomat police package while flashing the lights just so that he could clear himself of further danger on that blind curve.

FMJ getting fresh rubber......in anticipation!
My street tires are the M/T 16.5x31R and has DOT on the tire.Track tire is am M/T 10.5w.The front do not have a dot rating but I have NEVER had anyone look at the fronts.The po-po only look at the rear......

Google is your friend. DOT legal, DOT approved and street legal in your particular state are 3 different things. "Not for highway use" is on pretty much every race tire I've ever seen. Kind of like "don't stick your foot under mower" is on every lawnmower.

UH...YOU GO TO A RADIAL PREPPED TRACK, AND THOSE "STREET" TIRES WILL BE QUICKER THAN THOSE "RACE" TIRES...LOL

I stand corrected, Jegs says not dot approved so I went to M/T's site and sure enough they are DOT approved. It also says "The Mickey Thompson ET Street Radial Pro is D.O.T. approved but designed for drag racing use only. NOT FOR STREET USE". So DOT approved, yes, but not for street use. lol

This begs the question...what purpose does DOT approve the tire for, then, if not for street use?

Great stuff lol.

To fit into the rules of a race series..........

Note how small the DOT letters are embossed on the sides as compared to the "Not for use" letters. Kinda like one set of letters are for the near sided and the others are for the far sighted.
So far, I'm going to look at all the options and see.
If not, I'll go back to the old Pro-Trac's for street use.

Interesting politics playing out on our sidewalls.

I have had some luck with the bias E/T streets

The department of transportation approves race equipment?
Guess it's possible.....Had no idea.....

My Hoosier QTP Dot I just got a few months ago has "For Competition Use Only " on it. Even though it has the DOT on it also.

and the new demon comes with four DOT "???" tires [i forgot] from the factory ? as such, those will get driven on the street [some] correct ?

IIRC, Demons are possessed by ?? rating Nitto's on all four corners. Wonder how Mother Mope got those pass the highway patrol.

With this scenario, I'm taking second looks first time.

The Demon tire and all Nitto drag radials seem to have sufficient tread to not kill you in a rainstorm if the tires are fresh.

i just thought of something. those nittos have a demon emblem in the side wall, correct ? if so, i wonder if those tires have some extra "tread" molded in as well to get it "highway approved" [sorta] ?

I would suspect is the deepness of the threads, how far apart are they from each other and the sidewall construction as far as number of ply's. Side loads in an emergency as in swerving hard could compromise the sidewalls or the ability for the tire to stay seated on the rim bead.

Most of you are dealing with fair weather toys,so we want to achieve max traction when we stomp it!

DOT either approves or rejects ALL tires.. they have a series of tests
that the tire MUST meet to be approved FOR THE DESIGNED
PURPOSE .. they do fail tires that are unsafe