Tire question: What do the letters mean and what is the difference?

Question

in serv.Desc. between 92 or 94 for example with letters V or H? Does it matter if I get a size 205/65HR15 with serv.desc.
92H or 92V and again, what do those letters mean ? H, S, T, V? Thank you in advance for your answer.

Answer 1

To answer your question you need to know the difference between "Passenger-Metric" (P-Metric for short) and European-Metric (Euro-Metric for short) tire systems.

If the tire size has a P in front (ex: P205/65R15 92H) that means the tire is built to "Passenger-Metric" (American) standards and conforms to Passenger-Metric load and inflation tables. If there is no "P" at the beginning (ex: 205/65R15 94H) then the tire conforms to "Euro-Metric" or European standards and have different load and inflation tables that need to be followed.

The "92" and the letter (S, T, H, V etc.) are the Service Description and actually provide two different types of information.

The 92 describes the tires load carrying capability. The letter is the tires speed rating and describes the tires top speed capability under controlled conditions. In this size you may actually encounter tires with up to 5 different descriptions (not including variations in speed rating) that correspond to different load carrying capability. In P-metric there is a standard-load tire, P205/65R15 92 and a "extra-load" tire, P205/65R15XL 95. In Euro-Metric there are 3 different "standard-load" tires: 205/65R15 with service descriptions of 92, 93 or 94. There is also a rare extra-load with a service description of 99 that only fits old VW vans. It is sometimes referred to as a load range C tire.

The number doesn't translate into anything that would make obvious sense. You need to refer to a Load and Inflation Table for specific details. P-Metric and Euro-Metric tires use different Service Description numbers and have different load and inflation specifications For example a standard load P-Metric P205/65R15 92H tire carries a maximum load of 1,297 lbs while the Euro-Metric 205/65R15 94H tire is slightly lower at 1,290 lbs. Not a big enough difference to matter. A Euro-Metric 205/65R15 92H at 30 psi carries 1,213 lbs. You need to inflate it to 33 psi to match the load carrying capacity of the other two tires.

A P205/65R15 92H carries a maximum load of 1,400 lbs at 35 psi while a P205/65R15XL 95H carries a maximum load of 1,521 lbs at 41 psi. A 205/65R15 94H carries a maximum load of 1,477 lb at 36 psi. This shows that while it carries a slightly lighter load at 30 psi it carries a higher maximum load than the P-Metric standard load tire. A little care has to be taken when switching from Euro to P-metric tires and vice-versa.

You can find load and inflation tables for this size at the following link (page 32) if you want to play around a bit...

http://www.tiresafety.com/images/Tire%20Replacement%20Manual.pdf

Still with me?

Great.

The Speed Rating is designated by a letter. These are not in alphabetical order so you can't use that to determine what speed ratings are higher. Rather than go through them all I will just refer you here where someone else has done the work better than I could:

http://www.tiresafety.com/sizes/passenger/speed.asp

Tires with higher speed ratings use more sophisticated internal contstruction with additional bits and pieces that allow them to survive at higher speeds. This construction also effects how the tires stop the car and how they grip the road. All cars are designed around tires with a certain speed rating. It is not a good idea to install tires on your car with a lower speed rating than what the vehicle manufacturer recommends. By doing so you are re-engineering the vehicle and putting a less capable componenent on it, even if you don't drive 150 mph. It still impacts how the car behaves and tires are the #1 safety feature on your car.

Hope that didn't go on too long.

ASE Certifed Automotive Service Advisor working in the tire industry

Answer 2

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/avyrG

P=Passenger (as opposed to LT=Light Truck) 195= Width of tire, in mm, at it's widest point (not the tread) 60= ratio of height to width (aspect ratio) also known as profile or series R= Radial 15=Rim diameter in inches S=top speed 112 mph T=top speed 118 mph H=top speed 130 mph V=top speed 149 mph Z(unlimited)=top speed 149+ mph Z(limited W) =top speed 168 mph Z(limited Y)=top speed 186 mph The tire's top speed is determined under controlled laboratory conditions. A test tire is spun at increasingly higher speeds until it disintegrates. H and V rated tires, when agreeing in size and load-carrying capacity, are NOT interchangeable. A V rated tire will grip the road more efficiently than an H rated tire will, thus potentially causing a driveability problem.

Answer 3

the numbers are called the aspect ratio of the tire. 195 is the width and 60 is the side wall section height and 15 the rim size. the H and the VR are speed ratings, they are not able to be mixed you should never mix tires of a diff aspecgt ratio or speedratings.

Answer 4

Those letters refer to the speed rating of the tire.

Answer 5

the 92 is the load rating of the tire, the v or the h is the speed rating of the tire. the rest of the tire description is thus;

p=passenger
205=the tire section width(not the tread width)
65=the aspect ratio the height of the tire is this percentage of the section width. in this case 65%
h=the speed rating. the speed the tire can handle at rated pressure for a minimum of one hour. in this case 130mph
r=radial
15=the rim diameter the tire is designed to go on.
92h=the load rating and the speed rating i forget the actual load rating though.

for mor information check out www.tirerack.com

Answer 6

94h Tire

Answer 7

If all my tires are 92H can i completely change all of them to V

Answer 8

well most of the numberings and stuff on a tire is the amount of air pressure it requires, or what size the tire is it's self!! that's really all it is!!!

Answer 9

3 t rated tires do i put another t or an h

Answer 10

Please go to this website. It lists all of your answers...