The ‘sidewall’ of a tire contains a series of numbers and letters that many drivers do not know exactly what they mean. Time to change that because you can find quite a lot of useful information there if you know what to look for. Age, for example. That’s useful to know, even if you buy ‘new’ tires. Although they may be unused, they may also be years old. These are the seven most important things depicted on your car tire.
1. Bandwidth
This number shows the width of the tire in millimeters. In the example this is 205 mm.
2. Height
The sidewall height of the tire is indicated by this number. The figure represents the ratio in percentage between the width and the height of the car tire. The height is the size as you can measure it from the rim edge to the tread. In this photo you see 55 percent of 205 millimeters: 112.75 mm.
3. Tire construction
The letter R is on almost all tires nowadays, the code letter for the tire construction. The R stands for radial tire. The internal tire layers are placed crosswise (radially) on top of each other. This provides a more comfortable and economical tire than the previous diagonal tires.
4. Diameter
This number indicates the inner diameter, the rim diameter, in inches. In the example the value is 16. 1 inch is 2.54 cm. So 16 inches is 40.6 centimeters.
5. Load capacity
The carrying capacity or loadindex indicates the weight that a tire can carry. For example, the value 82 represents a load capacity of 475 kg. A car has four tires, the vehicle may weigh a maximum of 1900 kg including occupants, load and fuel.
6. Speed index
This is also a letter instead of a number. The ‘choice’ is from a letter such as T, H, V, W or Y. A car must have a tire that has a code for a speed that is at least the same maximum speed as the car can drive. These are the speeds associated with some of the letters: T: 190 km/h, H: 210 km/h, V: 240 km/h, W: 270 km/h, Y: 300 km/h. There is an exception for winter tires. Then a belt with a lower speed can be used. A sticker must be placed in the driver’s sight indicating this.
7. Production date
How old is a tire? This is indicated on the tire with a four-digit code. The first two digits indicate the week number, the second two digits the year. The code 0201 tells us that the tire in this example was manufactured in the second week of the year 2001. In any case, you should have a tire checked by a tire specialist or garage after six years. The material of the tire ages due to sunlight and other influences. This happens more if the vehicle (for example a trailer or a caravan) stands still a lot.
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