Tire Size Clarification

Can someone explain to me tire sizes and what the #'s mean? I want to put tires on my truck (96 1500) but I want them wider, but not taller.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/general/size_information.jsp

//2000CAYukon

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp?action=submit
This is a nice calculator to determine the difference between what you have now and what you wanna use

Use this # as an example: 205/55/15R-

the 1st # is the width of the tire. Not sure which unit of measure is used but the smaller the #, the narrower. The bigger the #, the wider.

skip the 2nd # briefly

which brings us to the 3rd #- This is the one most everybody knows- 15R is the size of the rim. In other words, this tire size will only fit on a 15" rim

now back to the middle #- this is most confusing # to understand- this # represents the profile of the tire. This number is the RATIO of the OVERALL HIEGHT (or diameter) over the OVERALL WIDTH

that 205 would be in milimeters.

If you have a 96 4WD truck, you probably have 265/75/16s or 245/75/16s. If its 2WD, then you have 15 inch wheels, but I don't really know hte tire size (provided that everything is OEM).

I don't think you'll be able to go wider without going taller without changing wheels. For example, if you have 245/75/16s and you switch to 265/75/16s, you go wider by 20 mm, and even though the middle number (which is an aspect ratio of the sidewall height to the width of the tire) is the same, since you went wider, then you're going to go taller. The only way to counter act this is to get a lower profile tire (smaller middle number), and the options will be limited for a truck with 15 or 16 inch wheels.

Now if you had 18 or 20 inch wheels, you would have alot more options.

What you'll run into is alot of tires that probably want have the load capacity that your truck will require. There is a 285/70/16 that would be about an inch wider and nearly the same height as a 265/75/16, but you always have to consider the load rating of tires when you buy them for a truck.

heres a lil equation. Metric - 265/75R16 First number is the width in millimeters/second number is the percent of the width that makes the sidewall height and of course the rim size is the last number. First divide the width by 25.4 to get the width in inches. 265 divided by 25.4 is 10.4. so the tire is 10.4 inches wide. Now multiply the width (10.4) by the percent (second number)Move decimal place to the front. 10.4 x .75 = 7.8 . 7.8 is the height of one sidewall. now multiply that by 2 Since there are 2 sidewalls in the height) and add the rim size(third number). 7.8 x 2 + 16 = 31.6 (the height). So the tire size in inches is 31.6x10.4 R16. Hope this helps

whoa, its too early for math yall