How Do I Know What Size Tire Chains to Buy

Your vehicle'southward performance and prophylactic depend on ownership the correct tires for your vehicle. Choosing the best model for performance is half the game. You must purchase the tires that fit your vehicle. To know what tires fit your car or truck, y'all must acquire how to read your vehicle's tire size. You may call up that yous need a tire to rim size calculator but that's not true. Reading your vehicle size is a lot easier than y'all may think. Here is your step-past-step guide to reading your vehicle'south tire size today.

Locate Your Vehicle's Tire Size

The first step is finding the recommended manufacturer tire size for your vehicle. This 10-digit sequence is a combination of numbers and letters. The easiest way to find information technology is by looking in the owner's manual. Only, don't worry if y'all lost it or tin't find information technology. You can observe the tire size in one of the following places:

Inside your vehicle's glove box door
Driver's side door jam
Gas tank hatch

If your vehicle has more than one door, you should bank check the side door jam for all drivers' side doors.

Write Downwardly Your Tire Size and Divide It into Sections

An instance of a vehicle tire size is P225/70R16 91S. Information technology's recommended that you split the sequence into three sections to read it easily. The example in a higher place can be split into the following sections:

P225
70R16
91S

Learn the Tire Type and Width of Your Vehicle's Tire

The first section of the tire size sequence is the type and width of your vehicle'southward tire. All tires are blazon P, LT, T, or ST. The P stands for passenger vehicles. P tires can fit cars, minivans, SUVs, and some light duty trucks. If your tire size has LT instead, it's a light truck blazon of tire. It fits vehicles that can handle heavier duty such as pulling trailers or carrying heavy cargo. Also, there are special designations for spares and special trailer tires. If the tire label has a T, it means it'southward the vehicle'due south spare. In contrast, tires for a special trailer accept an ST prefix.

The numbers after the messages are your tire width in millimeters. The width is the measurement from one sidewall to the other. Our example is a tire for a passenger vehicle with a width of 225 millimeters.

Figure out the Aspect Ratio, Construction, and RIM Diameter

In the section after the slash, you will detect the attribute ratio, construction, and RIM bore. The aspect ratio refers to the wheel rim first.

The tire aspect ratio is a percent calculated by dividing the tire meridian off the rim past the tire width. Y'all may calculate this number by using a bike offset calculator merely information technology's a lot more complicated than reading your tire size. If your tires accept a ratio of less than 60, they may provide amend vehicle handling performance.

In that location are two types of tire construction. Tires are radial, diagonal or bias ply. The construction refers to the orientation of the tire's internal ply cords. R stands for tire ply cords existence oriented in a radial direction, perpendicular to the axis of rotation.

Later the construction, you will discover the RIM bore for your tire. The example mentioned in step ii is a tire with 70 percent aspect ratio of radial construction that fits a 16-inch rim.

Acquire the Load Index and Speed Rating of Your Vehicle's Tire

In the section later on the infinite, you lot will read the load index and speed rating of your vehicle tire. The load alphabetize is the number that indicates how much weight your tire tin can support. The number is an alphabetize so you can't effigy out the exact weight by simply using the number. You must search the number on your size in the load index to learn the exact weight. A tire load index tin can range from i to 150.

The letter later on your load index is your speed rating. This number tells you lot the speed capability of your tire based on sure tests. If your tire speed rating is South, your tire tin handle speeds up to 112 miles per hour. In contrast, tires rated R can simply handle speeds up to 106 miles per hour.

In our example, the tire has a load alphabetize of 91 and an South speed rating. The tire may be able to support ane,356 pounds and handle up to 112 miles per hour.

Reading your vehicle's tire size is easier than using a rim and tire size calculator. You lot must break your 10-digit sequence into several parts to make sure you lot understand the measurements improve. Go along in mind that your vehicle may have more than one tire size depending on the vehicle and tire utilize.