Not everyone who buys a car understands the ins and outs of the stamped numbers and letters in different areas. A car – or truck – is meticulous to build, and when you are trying to ensure that your car is safe on the road, a good place to start is understanding using load index & load range to pick the right tires. The right tires keep you and others safe on the road, and it can give you an indication of how much you can load your vehicle without it being too much.
If you are shopping for tires, you’ll notice there are a lot of terms thrown around that you won’t necessarily have heard before. Terms like load index, load range and speed rating may go right over your head but it’s your responsibility to understand these terms and choose the right tires for your vehicle. You can find all of the numbers and letters for these on the tires of your vehicle. The experts at Dixie 4 Wheel Drive are more than happy to talk you through finding the right ones!
What Is A Load Index?
The tire load index tells you how much weight your tires can carry. This is the weight it will be able to hold at the maximum air pressure, so a brand new tire can hold a bigger load than a tire that’s been on your car for some time. The engineers who designed and built your car will have put your tires through rigorous tests to test the weight that it can hold before being sold. The only problem with these tests is that it’s done in a controlled facility and not on the roads where the surfaces differ. The load index takes your tire size and tire pressure capabilities and decides the index of the car. For example, a load index of 91 can translate to a capacity carry of 615 kilograms – or 1356lb.
The load index can be found on the side of the tire. The higher the load index rating, the more your tires can handle. The higher number is for single rear-wheel applications. The lower number is for the dual wheel applications. Air pressure is what carries the load in your tire from your car, and each tire on your vehicle can help you to determine how much weight your car will carry. This can be found in your OE specs in your manual and you can even find them in the door placard in your car. It should show you the load rating, tire pressure and the recommended tire size for your vehicle, too.
Using A Tire With a Lower Load Index
The chances are that you’re going to find tires with a smaller load index than the original equipment, so you might be tempted to go ahead and buy them. This would be a very bad idea! A tire that has a lower load index than the original specifications is not for your vehicle. You won’t be able to properly support the weight of the vehicle plus the load on top. If you have passengers in your car and your tires cannot handle the load of the vehicle + the load, you are in a potentially dangerous situation on the road. If you overload your tires and go against the manual specifications, you can cause stress on the casing and the construction of the tire and you run the risk of a tire blowout on the road.
What Is Load Range?
You can find the load range rating on the side of the tire, too, and on some tires you’ll see it on the sidewall. Load range is a much older measure of the carrying capacity of the tires of your car and it’s very much the equivalent of a ply rating. It’s often recommended to use the load range where it’s appropriate. You should always meet or exceed the load rating on replacement tires before you purchase so that you can keep your car safe on the road. It can be higher than the specs recommended in the driving manual, but it should never be lower! Some cars may require tires with a much higher load due to the range in weight both with and without passengers.
Speak To Us Today!
Don’t worry if any of this sounds confusing, though, as the experts at Dixie 4 Wheel Drive are here for you! Let us help you choose the right tires for your vehicle that keep it safe on the road no matter the road surface or the weather!
