Measurement units have always been something that sets the U.S. apart from the rest of the world. While the world adopted the S.I. units or Metric system, the U.S. stayed loyal to the Imperial system, which creates confusion even today. Unfortunately, this difference applies to tires too.
Reading tire sizes can be complicated as it is – especially if you have just started dabbling into the world of automobiles. Thus, we have created this guide to help you out a bit with metric sizes. We will also be focusing on metric size for 35 inch tires.
Table of Contents
What Is a Metric Tire Size?
The first distinction between metric and imperial (or standard) is the unit used for each system. For metric, we use millimeters, whereas, for imperial/standard, we use inches.
How to Read Metric Tire Sizes?
As we have mentioned already, metric size displays the size of the tire in millimeters. Here is a detailed explanation of how to decode a tire size properly.
Metric or P-Metric Size
This type of tire size will contain a forward slash and one or two alphabets expressive of the kind of tire. An example would be “P215/65R15”. Are you confused? We assure you it’s simpler than it seems!
On the left side of the forward slash, P represents ‘passenger vehicle tire,’ which is the type of tire we mentioned earlier. You may also see ‘L.T.’ or ‘S.T.’ instead of ‘P,’ meaning light truck and special trailer, respectively. After the P, 215 represents the width of the tire (sidewall to sidewall) in millimeters.
To the right of the forward slash, 65 represents a ratio. It expresses that the sidewall height is 65% as large as the tire’s width. ‘15’ illustrates what size wheel will fit the tire. So, in this specific tiring size, the tire will fit a 15-inch wheel. Here, the measurement unit deviates from the general Metric system rule.
If you are curious about the ‘R,’ it refers more to the construction style of the tire rather than the size. R stands for ‘radial,’ which means the layers run radially across the tire. Radial is the most common style, so you are likely to see R most often in good quality 35 inch tires.
How to Read Imperial Tire Size?
If you have mastered reading Metric sizes, you will find that imperial sizes are very similar – and vice versa. For example, let us use a 35-inch tire size “35×12.50-15”. As you may have noticed, the format is similar to the example used for Metric sizes.
The first number, 35, represents the diameter of 35-inches. This is what we refer to when primarily we say ‘35-inch tires’. 12.50 refers to the width of the tire in inches, while 15 refers to the corresponding wheel size in inches.
Related guide: What Are 35 Inch Tires?
What Size Is 35-inch Tire in Metric?
Before we find out what metric tire sizes are equivalent to 35-inch tires, keep in mind that there is no exact equivalent of millimeters to inches or vice versa. You must allow +/- 1 inch or +/- 2 millimeters while converting.
That being said, the closest metric equivalent of 35-inch tires is 315-318 millimeters. This means that tire sizes starting with ‘315’ to ‘318’ are equivalents of a 35-inch tire. Other than that, the wheel size will remain the same (since they are expressed in inches in both systems).
Final Words
So, there you have it! We hope our guide has been of great help in your search for the metric size for 35 inch tires and understanding different tire measurement systems. Since tire sizes are such an integral part of your vehicle’s performance, we hope this article takes you a step closer to getting the best out of it!