What Does 95W Mean On a Tire? (Explained)

When you pick up a tire from the tire store, there are many inscriptions you’d find on the tire’s sidewalls. These inscriptions are important information about the particular tire you picked up. It is necessary to look closely at those inscriptions to confirm that you’re buying a suitable tire for your car.

But these inscriptions are written as codes, so if you don’t know about tire codes, you won’t be able to understand their meanings. But what does 95W mean on a tire?

95W is a tire code indicating the selected tire’s load index and speed rating. It means that the tire has a “95” tire load index and “W” speed rating.

What is “Tire load index” and “Speed rating?” These codes tell the maximum Load a tire can carry and the maximum speed you should drive with the tire – more details below.

What Is Tire Load Index and Speed Rating?

Tire Load Index is a numerical code that indicates the maximum Load a particular tire is designed to carry when properly inflated. It is important not to overload your tires to avoid uneven wear – sooner than you could expect. Load indexes are represented with numbers from “0” to “150.”

Similarly, the Tire Speed Rating is the maximum speed a tire is designed to run. If you drive the tire above the recommended speed level, the treads will start to peel or wear, which shortens the lifespan. So, you’d end up changing your car tires frequently. The tire speed rating is represented with alphabets from “L” to “Z.”

Now, that’s the definition of load index and speed rating. However, you would never funny understand tire load index and speed rating codes until you access the charts. A 95W tire is actually different from a 97W tire or 95T tire.

The 95W and 95T tires have the same load capacity (95) but different speed ratings (“W” and “T”), while the 95W and 97W have different load capacities (“95” and “97”) but the same speed rating (W).

A tire with a “W” speed rating can withstand higher speeds than a “T” tire, while a “97” tire can carry more loads than a “95” tire.

To better understand these explanations made above, hereunder are the tire load index and speed rating charts.

Tire Load Chart

Load Index	Maximum Load (lbs)
80	992
81	1019
82	1047
83	1074
84	1102
85	1135
86	1168
87	1201
88	1235
89	1279
90	1323
91	1356
92	1389
93	1433
94	1477
95	1521
96	1565
97	1609
98	1653
99	1709

Speed Rating Chart

Speed Ratings	Maximum Speed at MPH
L	75 mph
M	81 mph
N	87 mph
P	93 mph
Q	99 mph
R	106 mph
S	112 mph
T	118 mph
U	124 mph
H	130 mph
V	149 mph
W	168 mph
Y	186 mph
Z	149+ mph

What Does 95W Mean On a Tire?

Using the chart provided above, it’s clear that a 95W tire is a passenger car tire capable of withstanding 168mph speeds with a maximum load capacity of 1,521 pounds.

However, a car doesn’t drive with just one tire, so to find the load capacity of your tires, you have to multiply the load index by the number of tires you’ve got. For vehicles with four tires, it’s 1,521 x 4, which equals 6,084 pounds.

In other words, a car with 95W tires is expected to carry a 6,084-pound load and drive at a maximum of 168MPH to maintain balance. If you exceed either of these recommendations, you may lose control over the car, and the resulting scenario could be fatal.

Other common tire codes you may like to know include:

• R18 (or any different number) = Rim Diameter
• P = Means the tire is for “Passenger Cars“
• 225/55 (or any other numbers) = Represent the “Width” and “Height” of the tire in millimeters

Summary

Summarily, what does 95W mean on a tire? It refers to the load capacity and speed limit of the tire. If your car’s stock tires are rated 95W, it is important that you stick with replacement tires of the same rating.

Going for bigger tires would affect the suspension and drivetrain components. If you must use bigger tires, then you have to also work on the drivetrain to align with the new tires.