The Ultimate Guide To Tire Sidewalls - How Good Are Your Tires?

How to read tire sidewalls and learn how safe your tires are!

What does 235/35R20 mean? What does ZR mean? What is a tread-wear rating? What is a temperature grade? What is a traction grade? How about load rating, speed rating, and DOT badge? Car tires are a confusing mess to look at, with both SAE and metric units, and a complicated nomenclature.

That's where this video comes in. We'll explain all of the details surrounding the most common markings you'll find on tire sidewalls, with the ultimate guide to tires. How to read your tires! Make cars and coffee interesting again and read tire sidewalls all day.

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[Techademics]

Jason, All my friends hate me now because I can't stop talking about tyres when I'm at the club. What do I do?
I need help!

[srcastic]

Best explanation of tire wall info I’ve ever seen. I’m 52 years old and just learned more in 11 minutes than in a lifetime of so called “experts” “explaining” things to me.

[egardner]

This should be required watching for anyone buying tires.

[shotpin]

Thank you Jason, I can’t wait for the next party to show I know how to read a sidewall!

[jepark]

It really is amazing though how much engineering goes into tires and how much they’ve evolved.

[Apotheotika]

EE helping me the life of the party again, it's why I keep coming back. Kudos Jason!

[Hungrystudent]

Tires are a very amazing and complicated product. Thank you for making it simple for everyone to understand. Being in the tire industry for 15 years; not only did you do a good job explaining, but you allowed people to understand there is a much more vast rabbit hole to explore if someone would like to have even more knowledge. E.G. tire pressure effects the setup of the vehicle while balancing the overall load. When driving higher speed this can have a huge effects or just when there are more down forces (including trucks with lots of weight).

[TomaszDominikowski]

6:33 thanks for the air pressure simulation Jason!

[michaelferguson]

6:48 Thanks did not know Treadwear Rating was manufacture specific. Always learn something new.

[Zippie]

It may also be worth mentioning that a lot of countries will issue fix it tickets for any tire over 6 years old, which is where the DOT stamp can be helpful in determining a tires age. There have been tire shops that have gotten in huge trouble for selling "new" 14 year old tires that never saw road time, only issue is that tires that old have hardened and lose traction and are more susceptible to blow outs. Think of a brand new rubber band that sat in a desk drawer for ten years, first time you stretch it out it just snaps, tires oxidize even if they arent driven on.

[tyrereviews]

Well hello 👀👀 I'm always the life of the party :(

[videomaniac]

One of the first things I would say to my students when I was teaching our calc-based physics sequence for engineering and physical science majors was to not mix units. I would recommend that they convert all data to S.I. units do the calculations to get answers in S.I. and then convert at the end if they needed a result in another system of units. Mixing units is a prescription for disaster.

[ianhinkle]

Love seeing the 3 different units on the sidewall. Teamwork at its finest.

[christhompson]

I bet your winter tires have the mountain snowflake. You could have included that.

[boboutelama]

As a studio musician, when I saw the accoustic foam in the tire, I cracked a gigantic smile.

[walterk]

Thank you for pointing out that the max inflation pressure indicated on the sidewall is *highly unlikely* to be the correct pressure for the vehicle.

[jwo]

Thanks a LOT, Jason .... I told my girlfriend I liked her 235/35/20s and that they looked very pneumatic. She slapped me and ran off crying!

[shubham-pawar]

I had no idea that something as simple as a car tire had so many aspects associated with it. Thankyou for giving us a detailed description of all these things.
Love your videos and hope your channel grow leaps and bounds.

[PiroFyre]

I like to go to car shows and judge people on the tires they have on their car.

[HillBilly-]

I've been looking for this info for 20 yrs. Tire shops I've asked these questions to just shrug and say not real sure. I have found most of this info through the yrs but this is by far the best thank you