Reading and understanding your Accelera tyre can be complicated and confusing since there’s a lot going on on your sidewall. But that information is important and can be extremely useful to you! It can help you identify what type of tyre you need to buy next, or how high of quality they are, or how fast you can safely drive on them without burning them up, or how much weight you can put on them without blowing them out. With all these new uses you now know about, follow our complete breakdown of how to read and understand your tyre.
- The section width is the width of the tyre from one sidewall to the other in mm – e.g. 245mm.
- The aspect ratio is the height of the sidewall (it’s a percentage of the section width). In other words, the ratio of sidewall height to width – e.g. 45% (of 245 which means the section width is 110.25).
- The speed rating is the maximum speed at which a (properly installed and inflated) tyre can be driven on. This is indicated by a letter which stands for a specific mph – e.g. S = 112mph, T = 118mph, W = 168mph.
- An R stands for radial construction. This means the tyre is a radial tyre, which has layers of fabric whose cords run at right angles to the circumference of the tyre; this just means that the tread is strengthened by additional layers around the circumference.
- Wheel diameter is the size of the wheel that a tyre can fit, in inches – e.g. The tyre will fit a 19 inch wheel.
- Load index is the maximum load carrying capacity of the tyre. It’s very important not to exceed this specification.