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What the Numbers on Your Tires Mean

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You’re headed to a party tonight where you’ll be around a group of gearheads who converse incessantly about cars, and you want to ensure you have one smart-sounding thing to say. You’ve decided to interject something about tire profiles (the height of the sidewall relative to its width), but in researching have spent the past 10 minutes staring at the indecipherable gibberish on your car’s sidewalls, to no avail. Unless you know a wind talker who can translate “P205/55R16 89H M+S” into English, follow the link below for everything you must know about tire markings to crack the code for yourself.

Tires 101: What Your Tire’s Markings Tell You

Matt Schmitz
Former Assistant Managing Editor-News Matt Schmitz is a veteran Chicago journalist indulging his curiosity for all things auto while helping to inform car shoppers.
Email Matt Schmitz

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