4WD tyre guide
Know your tyres before you buy.
Reading the sidewall, the terrain scale from highway to extreme, load and speed ratings, and knowing when a set is done — written for 4WDs, utes and touring rigs, in plain language.
01 Reading the sidewall
Every tyre carries its own size. Here is how to read it.
Take a common 4WD size. The same code is moulded into the sidewall of every tyre sold in Australia, and once you can read these six parts you can read any of them.
Example size
Where to find your size
- The sidewall — the code is moulded into the tyre itself. Check all four; they should match.
- The door-jamb placard — a sticker on the driver’s door jamb listing the sizes and pressures your vehicle was built for.
- The glovebox lid or fuel flap — where some makers put the placard instead of the door jamb.
Example size shown as 265/65R17 112S — yours will be different. Read yours off the tyre, not off this page.
02 Terrain types
One scale, sealed road to the far end. Where do you actually drive?
The scale runs from Highway-Terrain through to Extreme-Terrain. The further along it you go, the more off-road grip you gain — and the more on-road manners you trade away.
Highway-Terrain
4WDs, SUVs and wagons that live on sealed roads — the school run, the commute, the long highway haul.
- The quietest and smoothest of the five, and the longest-wearing on sealed roads — the closest thing to a standard passenger tyre tread.
- Minimal off-road capability — sealed roads and the odd well-kept dirt road. A highway tyre is not built for loose surfaces, and deep mud or sand is not its job.
- You give up off-road grip for road manners. If your weekends involve tracks, beaches or campsites, step along the scale to an all-terrain.
All-Terrain
Dual-cab utes, wagons and 4WDs that commute through the week and see tracks, beaches or campsites on the weekend.
- Closer to a highway tyre than a mud-terrain on the daily drive — quieter and longer-wearing than an M/T.
- The reason to step up from a highway tyre. A more open tread bites into loose surfaces — formed gravel, dirt tracks and light mud.
- More road noise and slightly faster wear than a highway tyre, and nowhere near a mud-terrain in deep mud. Sitting in the middle is the whole point.
Rugged-Terrain
Touring 4WDs that spend real time off the bitumen but still have to drive home on it.
- Better mannered than a mud-terrain, without pretending to be a highway tyre. Expect more noise than an A/T and less than an M/T.
- A more aggressive tread than an all-terrain, so it holds on where an A/T starts to scrabble — rutted tracks, rock and heavier mud.
- You pay for the extra bite in noise and wear. If most of your kilometres are sealed, an all-terrain is the easier tyre to live with.
Mud-Terrain
Serious off-roaders and regular low-range use — vehicles that earn their kilometres off the bitumen.
- Noticeably noisier, thirstier and faster-wearing on the highway than anything further down the scale. That is the deal a mud-terrain makes.
- The deepest, most self-clearing tread of the mainstream four. Widely spaced blocks bite into mud, sand and rock and clear themselves as the wheel turns.
- Everything you gain off-road you pay for on it. If most of your driving is sealed, a rugged- or all-terrain will be easier to live with.
Extreme-Terrain
Purpose-built off-road vehicles doing serious low-range work — rarely the right tyre for a daily driver.
- Expect the most road noise, the highest fuel use and the fastest wear of any tyre here — that is the deal an extreme-terrain makes.
- The most aggressive tread we list. Built for serious low-range work, where a mud-terrain is already at its limit.
- It is a specialist. Unless your driving genuinely demands it, a mud- or rugged-terrain will be the better everyday tyre.
Tight blocks with narrow gaps are built to stay quiet and last on the highway. The wider the gaps and the bigger the blocks, the more the tyre is designed to clear mud and bite into loose ground — and the more noise, fuel and wear you accept on the way to work.
03 Load & speed
Two small codes, one big rule.
The load index and the speed rating are the last two characters of the size. Your vehicle’s placard sets the minimum for both — and on a 4WD that tows or tours loaded, the load index is the number that matters.
Highlighted rows are the 112 and the S from the example size 265/65R17 112S .
Never fit a tyre below the load index or the speed rating on your vehicle’s placard. Going higher on either is fine; going lower is not. If a previous owner fitted something lower, the placard is still the rule — not the tyres that happen to be on the car.
04 When to replace
Tread, age and damage. Any one of the three.
The legal line in Australia is 1.5 mm across three-quarters of the tread width. Wet-weather driving and time off the bitumen are both good reasons to replace well before you get there.
Tread depth, side by side
Only the bottom figure is a legal one: 1.5 mm across three-quarters of the tread width. The rest is guidance — the lower you run, the less tread there is to clear water and dig into loose ground. A tread-depth gauge takes the guesswork out of it.Small raised bars sit inside the main grooves. Once the tread around them is flush, the tyre is at its wear limit.
Worn edges or a worn centre strip mean something needs fixing — pressures or alignment — before a new set goes on.
Rock and stick damage comes with the territory. A bulge in the sidewall is a broken cord — that tyre is finished, whatever the tread says.
1.5 mm is the floor, not a target. If you are regularly in the wet or off the bitumen, replace earlier than the limit.
Read the age as well as the tread. The last four digits of the DOT code are the week and the year the tyre was made — 2325 is week 23 of 2025. Have tyres inspected once they pass 5 years, and most makers advise replacing them by ten regardless of how much tread is left.
05 4WD specifics
The part a passenger-car guide leaves out.
Light-truck construction, sizes measured in inches, pressures on the tracks and what a lift does to your speedo. This is the 4WD-only end of the guide.
Flotation sizes read differently
Plenty of 4WD tyres are sold in inches rather than millimetres. The order changes too — the first number is the height of the whole tyre, not its width.
33x12.50R17- 33Overall diameter — 33 inches tall, measured across the whole tyre.
- 12.50Section width — 12.5 inches across.
- R17Rim diameter — 17 inches, read the same way as a metric size.
Compare that with a metric size such as 265/65R17, where the first number is the width in millimetres and the height is a percentage of it.
LT means light-truck construction — a stronger casing built to carry more. The load range letter, C, D or E, tells you how much. If you tow or tour with the rig loaded, this is the marking to look for.
Dropping pressure for sand and rock puts more tread on the ground where you need it. Re-inflate to your placard pressure before you get back on the bitumen — road pressures are for road speeds.
Swapping the tyres around evens out the wear across the set, so you replace four tyres at the end of their life rather than two of them early.
A lift or a larger overall diameter changes your speedometer reading and can affect legal compliance. The rules differ from state to state — check yours before you commit to a size.
Pick the terrain type for the driving you actually do, keep the load index at or above your placard, drop pressures when the ground calls for it and put them back up before the highway. Everything else is maintenance.
06 What’s included
Buy online, fitted locally, nothing added at the counter.
Choose a workshop or mobile fitter at checkout and your tyres are sent straight to them. Every price on the site includes GST.
By an accredited fitter from our network, at a price shown to you before you pay.
Across Brisbane, Melbourne and surrounds from our own warehouses — to your address, or straight to the fitter you pick. Delivery cost is shown at checkout.
Every tyre is balanced as part of the fit, included in the fitting price.
Your old tyres are taken away and recycled through the fitter at no extra charge.
07 FAQ
The questions we get most weeks.
Straight answers, no sales pitch. If yours is not here, the support team is a message away.
How do I find my tyre size?
Three places: moulded into the sidewall of the tyre you are running, on the placard in the driver’s door jamb, or on the glovebox lid or fuel flap where some makers put the placard instead. A size reads like 265/65R17 112S — width in millimetres, profile as a percentage, R for radial, rim in inches, then the load index and speed rating.
Can I fit a different load or speed rating?
You can always go higher, never lower. The placard on your vehicle sets the minimum for both. A 4WD that tows or tours loaded is exactly the case where the load index matters, so check it before you shop on price.
A/T or M/T — which one should I pick?
An all-terrain balances on-road comfort with real grip on dirt, gravel and light mud, which is why it is the most popular choice for mixed use. A mud-terrain has deep, widely spaced blocks — the deepest, most self-clearing tread of the mainstream four, and an X/T goes further still — but it is noisier, thirstier and wears faster. If most of your week is bitumen and your weekends are dirt, A/T is usually the right call; R/T sits between the two.
What do LT and load range C, D or E mean?
LT is light-truck construction — a stronger casing than a passenger tyre, built to carry more weight. The load range letter tells you how much: C, D and E step up from there. If you tow or tour with a loaded rig, this is the marking to look for alongside the load index.
How do I read a flotation size like 33x12.50R17?
Flotation sizes are in inches and read in a different order to a metric size. 33 is the overall diameter of the tyre, 12.50 is the section width, and R17 is the rim diameter — the same 17-inch wheel a 265/65R17 would go on.
When do I have to replace them?
The legal minimum in Australia is 1.5 mm of tread across three-quarters of the width, and you should replace earlier if you drive in the wet or spend real time off the bitumen. Age counts too: have tyres inspected once they pass 5 years, and most makers advise replacing them by ten regardless of tread. The last four digits of the DOT code give the week and year of manufacture.
Ready when you are
Now find the tyres that fit your 4WD.
Type the size straight off the sidewall, or search by make, model and year and we will show you what fits — GST-inclusive, with fitting priced up front.
Reading it off the tyre? 265/65R17 goes in as three fields.