What Is Load Index & Weight Rating On Tires

Blog Post

Understanding how much weight your vehicle can carry is extremely important, especially if you’re regularly hauling large loads. To better assess how much you can carry, you need to know a few different terms.

What we’re going to talk about today is load index and load range (both of which you can find on the sidewall of your tires), as well as weight rating. Weight rating is not a term we use often in relation to tires, but it’s one that’s commonly used to describe the maximum load a vehicle can carry.

We’ll start by talking tires, then we’ll talk about the overall weight rating of your vehicle. Let’s get started.

 

What is load index?

The load index can be found on the sidewall of your tire - it’s a two or three digit number, followed by a letter. The letter is your vehicle’s speed rating - not relevant to this article, but nice to know about.

This number tells you how much weight a tire can handle. Each number corresponds to a maximum weight. See the chart below:

 

Load index chart
Load Index Load (lbs) Load Index Load (lbs)
50 419 100 1764
51 430 101 1819
52 441 102 1874
53 454 103 1929
54 467 104 1984
55 481 105 2039
56 494 106 2094
57 507 107 2149
58 520 108 2205
59 536 109 2271
60 551 110 2337
61 567 111 2403
62 584 112 2469
63 600 113 2535
64 617 114 2601
65 639 115 2679
66 639 116 2756
67 677 117 2833
68 694 118 2910
69 716 119 2998
70 739 120 3086
71 761 121 3197
72 783 122 3307
73 805 123 3417
74 827 124 3527
75 852 125 3638
76 882 126 3748
77 908 127 3858
78 937 128 3968
79 963 129 4079
80 992 130 4189
81 1019 131 4289
82 1047 132 4409
83 1074 133 4541
84 1102 134 4674
85 1135 135 4806
86 1168 136 4938
87 1201 137 5071
88 1235 138 5203
89 1279 139 5357
90 1323 140 5512
91 1356 141 5677
92 1389 142 5842
93 1433 143 6008
94 1477 144 6173
95 1521 145 6393
96 1565 146 6614
97 1609 147 6779
98 1653 148 6844
99 1709 149 7165

 

It’s important to note that the load index tells you how much weight one wheel can handle - this means that a full set of tires can carry 4 times the load index of a single tire. 

 

What is load range?

Load range is related to the load index, but the information it gives us is quite different. A tire’s load range will tell you the maximum air pressure your tire can take. It’s also an indicator of the general “toughness” of a tire. Load ranges are associated with load indexes because, generally, the tougher a tire is (and the more air pressure it can sustain), the more weight it can handle.

Your tire’s load range is represented by a letter - we won’t get too deeply into it here, though, because if you’re focused on weight, the load index is the primary indicator you should be paying attention to.

 

The Gross Vehicle Weight Rating

Now you know how much weight your tires can handle - but how much weight can your vehicle handle? That’s where the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) can come in handy.

The GVWR is determined by the manufacturer, using stock parts. It tells you how much weight your vehicle can handle, including the curb weight of the vehicle (that’s the vehicle’s weight with nothing inside it). 

 

Even if your load index means your tires can carry more weight than the GVWR, you should almost never exceed the GVWR. You don’t know which parts of your vehicle might collapse under too much weight. Of course, if you’ve replaced all of the parts of your vehicle, and you know how much weight every individual part can take, you might be okay. But if you’re reading this article, it’s very likely that you don’t know about load ratings, and should stick with keeping your vehicle well below the GVWR.

While tires may not increase the maximum load capacity of your vehicle alone, they can do a whole lot to improve your ride. Learn more about what new tires can do for you.