-
Step 1
Determine how much weight you need your tires to hold. Perhaps you drive a passenger car that you don't load down. Alternatively, maybe you drive a light duty truck that you occasionally use to carry loads in the bed of the truck. On the other hand, perhaps you drive a heavy duty truck and haul a trailer quite often. Find out what your vehicle's maximum GVWR, or Gross Vehicle Weight Rating is. This is the maximum amount of weight your vehicle can support.
-
Step 2
Figure out what load rating you need your tires to have. Each tire should have the ability to support one fourth of the amount of the GVWR. For example, if your vehicle's GVWR is 6700 lbs., then each tire should be able to support at least 1675 lbs. Tires have load ratings that correspond to the amount of weight they can hold. For our example, GVWR weight of 6700 lbs., the tires should have a load rating of at least 99, which corresponds with a weight of 1709 lbs.
-
Step 3
Know that you can find the load rating after the tire size code on a tire, which will look something like this example, P235/70R16. The load rating will be a number between 71 and 150, followed by a letter. The number corresponds with the weight that tire can carry, as seen on a Load Carrying Capacity table (see Resources).
-
Step 4
Understand that you can buy tires that are capable of holding more weight than is needed. This is actually a good idea, in case of the event that you need to haul a much heavier load than usual. You can buy tires with the highest load capacity you desire, as long as the tire fits your vehicle.
