What You Need to Need to Know About Tire Size

You will find abundant used cars for sale in NZ, but you'll have to be wise enough while buying one as you will not find all of these cars to be in immaculate condition. Thus, it'll help if you thoroughly check for the condition and quality of all the car parts and components before buying it, especially the tires.

And guess what? Reading the tire size may sound intriguing at first, but there are only SEVEN parts of the tire code that you need to understand to comprehend the tire size. Here we've come up with the complete guide for you to read the tire size-

1. Tire Type- You can identify the tire's type from the first part of the tire code represented with capital letters. Here are the different types of tires and their vehicle suitability-
   1. P- P-class tires are best suited for passenger vehicles, including sedans, SUVs, hatchbacks, crossovers, minivans, and passenger pickup trucks.
   2. LT- LT-class tires are compatible for the light trucks having loading with the towing trailer capacity of 750-1000kg.
   3. ST-ST category tires are made for special trailers, including boat trailers, travel trailers, and utility trailers.

However, if there's no letter at the starting of the code, you have a metric tire whose load capacity lies somewhere between a P & LT tire.

2. TIre Width- The second part of the code is a three-digit number that tells you about the sidewise width, aka section width, of the tire in millimeters.

3. Aspect Ratio- The next part of the code is the aspect ratio of the tire. The bigger the number in this part, the bigger the tire's profile. The tire profile here represents the height of the tire. The aspect ratio is measured as the tire sidewall's height from the wheel's rim to the tread top, represented as the tire width percentage.

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4. Construction Type- The tire's construction type is represented by 'R' or 'D.' Here, 'R' is for the radial tire while the 'D' is for diagonal, aka crisscrossed, plies. The radial tires are the most preferred in the industry due to their better grip, better mileage, and low rolling resistance. In comparison, the bias-constructed tires with diagonal plies are not very popular these days due to lower grip and overheating problems.

5. Wheel Diameter- You can know the wheel diameter measured in inches with the following double-digit number's help. The wheel's diameter is calculated just like the diameter of a geometric circle by measuring the distance between two points on the rim through the center.

6. Load Index- The second last part of the code, i.e., a two or three-digit code, indicates the weight limit the tire can bear. Although these digits do not represent the exact weight the tires can carry, it means the concurrent load index value for the tire's weight limit.

7. Speed Rating- The last part of the code, a single capital letter, indicates the speed rating in handling the heat. The higher the tire's speed rating, the better its capabilities to take the heat and thus better control at a higher speed. Like the Load Index, the Speed Rating also represents the concurrent speed in the MPH unit. However, it will help if you do not try to test the tire speed rating!

These size ratings are uniformly adopted around the world by all tire manufacturers. Therefore, this tire rating system will allow you to read the tire size of German, American, and Japanese used cars for sale in NZ. Get in touch with Bizupon for more such valuable information that will help you get total value for money when you buy your next pre-owned car from us.