Owners Manual

Tires
Vehicle care and maintenance 9-13
9
 Light truck (LT) tire: a tire designated by
its manufacturer as primarily intended for
use on lightweight trucks or multipurpose
passenger vehicles.
 Tread: portion of a tire that comes into
contact with the road.
 Tread rib: a tread section running circum-
ferentially around a tire.
 Tread separation: pulling away of the
tread from the tire carcass.
 Carcass: the tire structure, except tread
and sidewall rubber which, when inflated,
bears the load.
 Sidewall: portion of a tire between the
tread and bead.
 Section width: the linear distance between
the exteriors of the sidewalls of an
inflated tire, excluding elevations due to
labeling, decoration, or protective bands.
 Bead: the part of the tire that is made of
steel wires, wrapped or reinforced by ply
cords and that is shaped to fit the rim.
 Ply: a layer of rubber-coated parallel
cords.
 Cord: the strands forming the plies in the
tire.
 Rim: a metal support for a tire or a tire
and tube assembly upon which the tire
beads are seated.
 Rim diameter: nominal diameter of the
bead seat.
 Groove: the space between two adjacent
tread ribs.
EXAMPLE: P215/65R15
Tire Markings
1- Size Designation
2- Service Description
3- Maximum Load
4- Maximum Pressure
5- U.S. DOT Safety Standards Code
(TIN)
6- Treadwear, Traction and Temperature
Grades
Size Designation
P
Passenger car tire size based on
U.S.A. design standards
215 Section width in millimeters (mm)
65
Aspect ratio in percent (%)
Ratio of section height to section
width of tire.
R
Construction code
• “R” means radial construction.
• “D” means diagonal or bias con-
struction.
15 Rim diameter in inches (in)
NOTE
 European/Japanese metric tire sizing is based
on European/Japanese design standards.
Tires designed to these standards have the
tire size molded into the sidewall beginning
with the section width. The letter “P” is
absent from this tire size designation.
Example: 215/65R15 96H.
 LT (Light Truck) -metric tire sizing is based
on U.S.A. design standards. The size desig-
nation for LT-metric tires is the same as for
P-metric tires except for the letters “LT” that
are molded into the sidewall preceding the
size designation.
Example: LT235/85R16.
 Temporary spare tires are high pressure com-
pact spares designed for temporary emer-
gency use only. Tires designed to this
standard have the letter “T” molded into the
sidewall preceding the size designation.
Example: T145/80D18 103M.
BK0236100US.book 13 ページ ２０１６年２月１日 月曜日 午前１０時１５分