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1/12 Tullamarine Park Drive, Tullarmarine VIC 3043Understanding Your Tyre Size
Tyre size is located on the sidewall of your tyre that is fitted to your vehicle.
The sidewall holds a fair bit of information regarding your tyre. For now, we will cover obtaining your tyre size.
In some circumstances German makes such as Mercedes, BMW & Audi have different tyre size’s on the front and rear, so ensure that you have the correct tyre size and check both the front and rear sidewalls.
We will be on the lookout for the following number and letter set. Let’s go through what each set of numbers and letters mean for the tyres equipped on your car!
Tyre width (205/55r16 91H)
The first 3 digits of the tyre size measures the width of the tyre in “mm”, therefore if a measurement is taken from one sidewall to the other a width of 205mm is made.
Profile (205/55r16 91H)
This is then followed by a pair of numbers; this measurement is called the profile and is a percentage of the tyre width. Hence the height of the tyre is 55% of the tyre width.
Construction (205/55r16 91H)
The next part of is denoted by a letter in this case we have the letter “R”.
“R’ stands for radial where by the tyre has a radial construction, majority of tyres these days are radial construction.
Diameter (205/55r16 91H)
The last two digits represent the rim and tyre size suited for the rim.
In our example here the final two digits are “16” therefor a diameter of 16 inches is the rims and tyre diameter.
Load & Speed Rating (205/55r16 91H)
This information allows you to know the maximum weight capacity and speed the tyre can travel.
Using a load index, we can determine that for our example “91” tells us that per tyre has a load capacity of 615kg.
Speed is indicated by a single letter in this example it will be “H” (210 km/h), the higher the letter alphabetically the higher the speed rating.
You can fit a tyre with a higher speed rating than necessary but never a lower rating than required.
