Tire API v1.4.0 Changelog: Platform Protections & Clearer Terms

Tire API v1.4.0 strengthens how we protect the fitment database from automated bulk extraction, and cleans up the terms and messaging around it. If you're a normal developer building a fitment guide, sizing tool, or checkout flow, nothing about your day-to-day usage changes — this release is about keeping the data fair and reliable for everyone who depends on it.

Uniform Enforcement, No Tier Exempt

Building on the reverse-lookup quotas introduced in v1.3.0, v1.4.0 adds an enforcement layer that responds to genuinely abusive access patterns — systematic sweeping or bulk reconstruction of the fitment database — regardless of which plan the key is on.

This is a meaningful shift from a pure quota model: enforcement is based on how a key is actually being used, not just how many calls it's made. That means a normal, high-volume integration doing legitimate by_vehicle lookups is treated differently than a key sweeping the same endpoint systematically to reconstruct the underlying dataset — even though both might make similar call volumes.

Importantly, Business plan keys are not exempt. Every tier is subject to the same protections; the only exemption is a manual, case-by-case allowlist for heavy but verified legitimate use, and that's independent of which plan you're on. We're not going to detail the exact mechanics publicly — that's by design, the same way most platforms don't publish their abuse-detection thresholds — but the short version is: normal usage is unaffected, and enforcement escalates only in response to clearly abusive patterns, with the most serious actions requiring manual review rather than happening automatically.

by_vehicle/tiresize Is Still Uncapped

To be explicit: GET /by_vehicle/tiresize (vehicle → tire sizes), the core lookup most consumer-facing tools rely on, has not been given a new per-endpoint cap. It remains subject only to your plan's existing daily request limit, same as always.

Terms of Use: Two New Prohibitions

We've updated §7.1 of the Tire Size API Terms of Use (last updated July 30, 2026) to explicitly prohibit:

  • Automated, non-human-initiated access to fitment endpoints — robots, crawlers, and headless scripts used to harvest data at scale
  • Evasion after an enforcement action — creating new accounts, keys, or switching IPs specifically to route around a restriction; each attempt is treated as its own, continuing breach

If you have a legitimate need to pull data in bulk — building a downstream product on top of our fitment database, for example — we now explicitly offer a commercial data license as the right path. Reach out to support if that's you.

Messaging Cleanup: No Plan Is Framed as a Scraping Upgrade

We reviewed every rate-limit and quota error message on the platform and removed any language that could be read as "upgrade to Business to scrape more." That was never the intent, but the old copy wasn't as careful as it should have been. Now:

  • Enforcement-related error responses point to our Terms of Use and to support, not to a pricing tier
  • The reverse-lookup over-quota message is now the same neutral wording for every plan — "contact support if you have a legitimate need for a higher allocation" — rather than singling out an upgrade path
  • Docs and code comments no longer frame any single tier as automatically exempt from anti-abuse protections

Bulk or high-volume legitimate use has always been something we want to support — we'd just rather have that conversation directly with you than have it implied by an error message.

Smaller Housekeeping

  • All static site pages now link their footer Terms of Use directly to the tire-specific terms (/terms-of-use-tire-api-service.html) instead of the general Virtual Dimension terms. Privacy Policy links are unchanged.
  • The OpenAPI spec, in-app docs, and README are all bumped to reflect v1.4.0 as the current version.

No Breaking Changes

v1.4.0 doesn't change any request or response shapes, and it doesn't add new limits for normal usage. If your integration does straightforward vehicle-to-tire-size or size-to-vehicle lookups within reasonable patterns, you won't notice anything different. This release is about protecting the platform's data integrity so it stays reliable and fast for everyone building on it.

Trying It Out

Support & Resources

Need help, or have a legitimate high-volume use case? Contact support at support@vdimtech.com — we're happy to talk through a commercial data license or a higher allocation if a generous default genuinely isn't enough for what you're building.

Conclusion

v1.4.0 is a behind-the-scenes strengthening release: fairer, more uniform protection for the fitment database, clearer terms, and messaging that treats every customer the same way. If you're building something legitimate, this release changes nothing about how you use the API — it just means the data you're relying on stays reliable for everyone else too.

Tags

API Changelog Tire API Release Notes REST API Terms of Use Platform Security