Tire tips: A wealth of information can be found from tire codes
Tires carry a wealth of information on their sidewalls;
unfortunately, it's all in code. Most of it is of no concern to
many owners, but it can be valuable for those who want to know
the seasons for which their tires are intended, those who plan
to replace their tires, or new-car buyers who are given a choice
of sizes and types. P simply means this is a passenger-car tire.
Other codes include T (temporary, as in a spare tire), LT (light
truck) and C (commercial). Not all tires include this letter.
205 (the first number) is the tire's width in millimeters. 55
(the number following the slash) is a measure of the tire's
profile -- the height of its sidewall relative to its width --
expressed as the sidewall's aspect ratio in a percentage. In
this example, the sidewall height is 55 percent of the tire's
width, which is 205 mm. The number is known as the tire's
series; a sporty tire with shorter sidewalls would be considered
a lower-series tire. Off-r