At every level from single-car owner totire yardproprietor, there are many tires to be owned.
The point is, most of us do.
In fact, all the information you need is literally printed on the tires you already own.
Naturally, that information isnt printed in what might be called a human readable mannerits a code.
Heres how to read your cars tires.
Jokes on you: all these letters and numbers are totally scrutable.
You just need to know what they mean.
There are two codes youll need to pay attention to.
Lets take two made-up tire codes and walk through what they mean.
Tire jot down.The first letter of the code describes what jot down of vehicle the tire is meant for.
Pindicates a passenger vehicle.
Think sedans, minivans, and most small SUVs and trucks.
LTstands for light truck, or trucks that can carry heavy loads.
Tstands for temporary and will be found on spares that arent full-size tires.
Generally speaking, theyre considered equivalent to P-metric tires, especially if youre replacing all four.
If youre not sure about something, you’re able to still check with a professional.
Tire width.After the letter, youll find three numbers.
In our sample above, this is 205 and its just the width of the tire in millimeters205mm.
After the width youll see a forward slash, followed by two more numbers.
So using our example, the height of the tire would be 65/100 x 205, or 133.25.
That means the tire is 133.25 millimeters high.
Construction bang out.After the aspect ratio youll find a letter.
This is a code describing the tires construction pop in.
Rstands for radial
Dstands for bias tires (for some reason).
Almost all the tires youll encounter will be radial tires.
Bias tires are mainly used on motorcycles and trailers.
The last two numbers of the sidewall code are the rim size or diameter of the wheel.
In our sample, that would be 16.
Suddenly and for no sane reason, were back in the imperial system and its in inches.
Because why should there be consistency?
Ever wondered how much weight your vehicles tires can handle?
After the rim size, youll find a 2-3 digit code.
Tires are engineered to operate under specific conditions, and that includes speed.
The letter that follows the load index is the tiresspeed rating.
There are a lot of speed ratings ranging from a dawdling 3 mph to 186 mph or more.
In our sample, the H indicates the tire is rated for speeds up to 130 mph.
DOT Code
Theres another code on your tire worth paying attention to: The DOT code.
This code is mandated by the Department of Transportation and indicates the tire has met minimum safety requirements.
It also shows who manufactured the tire and when, which is most useful for us.
The format of the DOT code isDOT 2620.
The manufacturer info will vary in length and composition.
All we care about is the last four digits, which indicate when your tire was made.
In our samples case, it was the 26thweek of 2020.
Knowing how old your tires are is very useful information.
Other Info
Theres a ton of other info on your tire that is either easier to understand.
The maximum tire pressure is pretty self-explanatory, for example.
Other things are slightly less crucial.
Treadwear (sometimes abbreviated TW).
This tells you how much grip your tires have and how fast your tires will wear out.
This refers to how well your tires dissipate heat.
Heat is really bad for your tires, so a higher rating is better.
This will be a letter grade of A, B, or C.
M+S.
If you see this, your tire is an all-weather tire rated for mud and snow.
If its followed by an E, youve got a snow tire.
See some arrows on your tire?
Congratulations, youve got an unidirectional tire.
That just means the tire is engineered to be installed in one direction.
Most tires are unidirectional, but if youdontsee arrows dont freak out.
Thats all there is to know about tire codes.
