[Kazbaeden]

What exactly does tire and wheel nomenclature mean?

195/65 R15 H-Rated all-season?
205/55 R16 H-Rated all-season?
205/50 R17 V-Rated all-season?

I'm supposing the R means radius and the following number is the size of the wheel? What do the other numbers mean? And H/V rated?

EDIT: Edited topic name for easier navigation

 

[chickmod]

This should explain it fairly well:
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/brochure/info/tmpInfoReadingSidewall.jsp

 

[chickmod]

H and V are speed ratings (how fast the tire can supposedly allow speeds up to). If you are never going to drive over 120mph, then you don't need a tire that is rated for speeds of 160, which is something like Z.
edit:
Speed Rating
Test Speed
Q- Up to 100 mph
S-Up to 112 mph
T-Up to 118 mph
U-Up to 124 mph
H-Up to 130 mph
V-Up to 149 mph
W-Up to 168 mph
Y-Up to 186 mph
Z-Up to 149 mph and over

 

[atl]

LOL..... My Yokohama's are W rated.

 

[dinu01]

And here's your graph:

The graphic above shows what each letter and number on the sidewall of a tire indicates.

The following is a breakdown of the components of the size of the tire.

P
Passenger car tire. If there is no P before the size it would indicate it is a European metric tire. An LT before the size would designate a light truck tire.

205
This is the Section Width in millimeters. This measurement is taken from sidewall to sidewall.

65
This number refers to the height of the sidewall, or the Aspect Ratio. It is a percentage of the section width. In this example, you would take 65 percent of 205 millimeters and this would give you the sidewall height.

R
Radial tire construction.

15
Wheel diameter in inches.

 

[chickmod]

yeah, that was the link I provided above. I knew nothing about tires, until I went to their website, and learned something.

 

[AK/47]

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it very wierd that tire/wheel demenions are done in three seperate units? Inches, millimetres and percent. :?:

 

[dinu01]

Yeah, I never thought of that. Weird indeed!