What Do the Numbers on Tires Mean?

If you’ve ever looked at your Toyota’s tires on your Tulsa commutes, you may have seen a sequence of numbers and letters on their sidewalls and thought, “What do tire numbers mean?” If so, you’re not alone! While they seem like gibberish to most, the code on the sidewall on every tire carries a lot of information about its size, type, purpose, and more. You might need to know this information if you’re shopping for new tires, or just wondering about the tire number’s meaning. Either way, the experts of James Hodge Toyota’s service center are here to explain for you!

What Do Tire Numbers Mean?

Every tire’s sidewall carries a special code informing you or your Muskogee service center of its size, construction, speed rating, and other information. Here, we’ll use an example to show you what each section of that code means:

P215/65R15 95H

Each piece of this code means something different relating to the tire it’s stamped on. Just what the tire numbers mean is what we’ll spend the rest of this article explaining.

Tire Number Meaning: Decoding P

In the code above, the P means the tire is a P-metric tire, made for passenger vehicles like minivans, sedans, and SUVs. Other common designations include LT, or light truck, and the total lack of a preceding letter, which means it’s a Euro-metric tire. Euro-metric tires are similar to P-metric tires but are slightly different.

Tire Number Meaning: Decoding 215

After the optional beginning letter, the tire code tells us the tire width in millimeters. For our example tire, we can see that it’s 215 mm wide, or a little under 8.5 inches.

Tire Number Meaning: Decoding 65

After the tire width comes a forward slash, and after that is a number designating the tire’s aspect ratio. A tire’s aspect ratio is the ratio between its cross-sectional height and width—our example tire, then, is 65% as tall as it is wide.

Tire Number Meaning: Decoding R

Most modern passenger cars are built radially and carry an R in the next position in their tire code. There are other construction types, such as bias and belted-bias, but the most common code you’ll see is R.

Tire Number Meaning: Decoding 15

After the tire construction code comes the tire’s rim diameter, measured in inches. This means our example tire will fit on a 15-inch-diameter wheel.

Tire Number Meaning: Decoding 95H

Finally, the tire code has a number for load index and letter for speed rating. 95 indicates the weight the tire can support when properly inflated. Most passenger vehicles will carry a load index of 75–105. H represents the maximum safe speed for this tire, which in our case is 130 mph.

How to Check Tire Pressure

No matter what kind of tire your Toyota is equipped with, you should keep it in top condition by making sure it’s properly inflated. While it’s quick and easy to check your tire pressure yourself, modern Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) can automatically alert you when your tires’ pressure is outside the recommended range. When you see a TPMS alert on your dashboard, head to a gas station to top off your tires, or bring your Toyota to our Muskogee service center for a top-off and a maintenance inspection!

For All of Your Maintenance Needs, James Hodge Toyota is Here for You

When your Toyota needs maintenance or repairs near Tahlequah, whether it’s new tires, tire rotation, new brakes, or even an oil change, our service team at James Hodge Toyota is here to help! We make it easy to schedule a service appointment near Tahlequah online, plus our rotating service specials make it easy to save on your next Toyota service! Contact us if you have other questions about what tire numbers mean, and we’ll be happy to help!