WHAT DOES YOUR LOAD RATING MEAN?

As tyre professionals there are multiple things we must look at in order to fit a tyre to your vehicle,

We can just get the size and fit any old tyre to your car,

There is more required in order to find the right the tyre that meets the needs of the vehicle for warrant of fitness standards.

A prime example of this is the load and speed rating of a tyre by New Zealand Warrant of Fitness standards. Any tyre on the same axle must be of the same construction type and have a load rating matching the number (ie 205/55R16 97W).  If these numbers do not match then it is most likely you will fail on WOF Standards.

THERE ARE SOME EXCEPTIONS. If your number is +2 or -2 than you are still in the safe zone for the warrant (ie if it says 97W, You will be safe with a 95W or 93W)

As you can see below all of these number correspond with an alternate number being how much weight that one tyre can hold, For example if you have a small car like a Nissan Tida or of similar shape vehicle your tyre size is roughly 175/65R14 87W meaning that one tyre can carry 545 Kgs each, meaning the tyres alone can carry up to 2,180 Kgs. Table is provided below.

Load index chart

LOAD INDEX	Pounds	KGS
71	761	345
72	783	355
73	805	365
74	827	375
75	853	387
76	882	400
77	908	412
78	937	425
79	936	437
80	992	450
81	1019	462
82	1047	475
83	1074	487
84	1102	500
85	1135	515
86	1168	530
87	1201	545
88	1235	560
89	1279	580
90	1323	3600

LOAD INDEX	POUNDS	KGS
91	1356	3615
92	1389	630
93	1433	650
94	1477	670
95	1521	690
96	1565	710
97	1609	730
98	1653	750
99	1709	775
100	1764	800
101	1819	825
102	1874	850
103	1929	875
104	1984	900
105	2039	925
106	2094	950
107	12149	975
108	2205	1000
109	2271	1030
110	2337	1060