Have you ever looked at the alphabet soup on the side of your tires and wonder what it all means? All highway use tires have the size displayed on the sidewall and here is how to make sense of them!
If you look at your sidewall and find a series of numbers that look like this PXXX/XXRXX you have found the tire size!
- The first letter is either a P or an LT, P stands for Passenger Vehicle, LT stands for Light Truck.
- The set of 3 numbers behind the P is the width of your tire in millimeters. For example, P215 is a two hundred and 15 millimeter wide tire.
- The next number behind the slash (/) is the aspect ratio. This is where it gets a little tricky. An aspect ratio is the height of the tire expressed as a percentage of the with of the tire. For example P215/50 means that the tire is 50% as tall as it is wide so 215 multiplied by .50 is 107.5 millimeters tall.
- The R behind the aspect ratio indicates the tire is a radial tire. Radial refers to the internal construction of the tire and is a requirement for all cars sold in the USA.
- The last two numbers indicate the rim size in inches.
So now we know that a P215/50R16 tire is a passenger tire that is 215 millimeters wide, 107.5 millimeters tall and fits a 16″ rim.
To find your tire size, look inside the driver’s side door jamb near the latch. You will see a sticker called the tire placard. On there you will find the recommended size tire for your vehicle.
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