Ever wonder what the numbers on the side of your tire mean? As seen on the graphic, the first letter, “P” in this case stands for passenger car tire, on some light duty trucks you will see “LT” before the number. That tells the technician that the tire has either a 6-ply cord in the tire or a 10-ply cord designed for heavy duty and can carry a certain amount of weight. The first number in the graphic shows 215 which is the width of the tire tread from shoulder to shoulder where it meets the road. The following number “60” is the “Aspect Ratio” and that percentage is taken from the tire width and how high or low the tire is made from the wheel to the tread. The next letter is in most cases “R” which means this tire is a radial tire that does not need a tube inside the tire to hold the air, you will also see “T”, “ZR” for examples showing that the tire is made for a different purpose. The number that follows is the size of the rim that this tire is made for. After the rim size you will see the maximum carrying capacity and a maximum speed capacity. You do not want to put a tire that is less than what the manufacture recommends for your vehicle, but it is okay to put a rating higher than what the vehicle manufacturer recommends. If you have any questions about the anatomy of your tire or what it all means, please give our service advisors at Adams Tireworx a call at 510-581-4525 or stop by any time and one of our advisors and technicians are more than happy to help!