The writing and symbols on the sidewall of your tyre can tell you a lot about the tyre itself, such as what weight it can carry and its maximum speed. This helpful guide will show you what's what, so that you can read the writing on the wall. The writing on the sidewall of your tyre is like a specification sheet - it tells you everything you need to know about the tyre.
This information includes details of the tyre's country of origin, size, speed rating, type approval,loading capability, model number and much, much more. Of course, some of this data is stuff only a tyre technician will find useful, but there are several details you will find handy too.
Tire size: 205/45 R15 79V above as an example
205 - The nominal section width of the tyre in millimetres.
45 - The aspect ratio of the tyre, (the ratio between the section height and section width).
R - Radial construction. All car tyres sold in the UK are radial except for certain special tyres such as space saver spares.
15 - The diameter of the rim shown in inches.
79 - The load capacity of the tyre shown as an index. which should be looked up on the load index scale table here (sorry in dutch but it's very clear)
V - The speed symbol, i.e. the maximum sustainable speed for the tyre at the load capacity given - in this case 149.1mph/240kmph. View the Speed Table here and here.
Here is a tire calculator
