TUBELESS
The tire is built to hold air without an inner tube. US safety standards require every tire to say either TUBELESS or TUBE TYPE.
How to read it
FMVSS 139, the US standard for passenger car and light truck radial tires, lists “tubeless” or “tube type” among the markings each tire must carry, and FMVSS 109 and 119 require the same words on the tires they cover. USTMA’s guide lists it with the size and load markings: the tire must be marked either tubeless or tube type. Bridgestone’s glossary describes the innerliner, a layer of low-permeability rubber laminated to the inside of a tubeless tire to make it hold air. TyreSafe’s guide to UK tyre markings lists a sidewall marking that denotes tubeless construction.
Also searched as: tubeless tire, tube type.
What each marking means under the standard that defines it. This page describes markings; it doesn’t advise on choosing, fitting, inflating or replacing tires.
Read next
- Next in Tire sidewall markingsRed and yellow dotsPaint marks used when the tire is mounted on its wheel: on Yokohama’s tires, the red mark is the point of greatest radial force variation (the high point) and the yellow mark the lightest point.
- The same shape in Accessibility symbolsAudio description symbol (AD)AD stands for audio description: a narrator describes what is happening on screen or on stage in the pauses between the dialogue, for people who are blind or have low vision.
More tire sidewall markings
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with curves and waves or letters and numbers.
Sources
- Standard No. 139: New pneumatic radial tires for light vehicles, 49 CFR 571.139 (FMVSS 139), U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations), S5.5(g)
- 49 CFR 571.109: Standard No. 109; New pneumatic and certain specialty tires, FMVSS No. 109, Office of the Federal Register, eCFR (NHTSA regulation), S4.3(f)
- 49 CFR 571.119: Standard No. 119; New pneumatic tires for motor vehicles with a GVWR of more than 4,536 kilograms, FMVSS No. 119, Office of the Federal Register, eCFR (NHTSA regulation), S6.5(g)
- Tire Care and Safety Guide, U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA), pp. 5, 7
- Tire Terminology, Bridgestone Americas, Innerliner
- Car Tyre Load and Speed Markings, TyreSafe, How to read tyre markings?
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 29, 2026. How we research
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