Your Tyre Sidewall – What’s on It
The first letter stands for the size or/and the type of tyre. This “P” here tells us that this is a passenger tyre or as it would be called technical a P-metric tyres. It simply means that it is meant for passenger vehicles. However if you don’t see a letter at the beginning, it means it is a Euro Metric tyre.
“LT” at the front or at the end of this tyre alphanumeric code means light truck. So basically the tyre was made for light truck, therefore they’ll have more load bearing capacities than passenger tyres and they’ll also need more air pressure. The right tyre and inflation pressure information for your car comes in the owner’s manual. It can also be found on the side of the driver’s door.
Tyre Width
The next three numbers 215, represents the width of the tyre in millimeters, this is measured from sidewall to sidewall. So the width of this tyre is 215mm.
Aspect Ratio
This is the ratio of the tyres width to its cross section. So the two numbers after the / in the alphanumeric code is the tyres aspect ratio. What it basically means is that the height of this tyre is 65% of it’s width. The size of the aspect ratio affects the size of the wall.
Construction Type
This “R” here means this is a radial tyre. We also have “RF” for runflat tyres.
Wheel Size
This is basically the size of the wheel measured from side to side. With this we know the size of the wheel that would work with this tyre. From this code 15 here happens to be the diameter of the wheel and it is measured in inches.
Tyre Load Index
This tells the highest amount of load the tyre can carry when it’s at the correct pressure. What we see here is the number 95. It’s a code for this tyre’s highest bearing load capacity. This tyre was constructed to carry not more than a load of 1521 pounds. Other numbers represent other load indices. Check your car manufacturer’s manual to know what weight index would suite your car.
Speed Rating
This tells you how fast this tyre can go safely, it doesn’t, however, advice that you should go beyond the speed limits of the area where you’re driving in. The “H” here represents a maximum speed capacity of 210 km/h, that is about 130mph. There are other symbols which can also be used depending on the speed rating of the tyre. “Q” which is the lowest will represent 99 miles per hour, then “R” would be 106 mph, and this would go all the way to (Y)** which would mean 186mph and above.
So whenever you see tyres for sale, or you’re just curious to know what is on a tyre’s sidewall, you now have an idea of what it means. It contains information about the tyre you are using, which then informs you on the tyre you should most likely use, if you need to replace your tyres. If you’re not sure about the brand ot purchase, then you should buy Habilead tires. They are not as expensive as your premium tyres such as Continental but they provide great quality, you’ll love them.
