Chevrolet Malibu tires

Four original tire sizes came out of the factory on one Malibu model line, from a 16-inch up to a 19. Our two pressure sources agree on two of those sizes and not on the rest, and one of the uncorroborated ones sits two psi below the others. That is why this page does not give you a single number for a Malibu.

The sizes Chevrolet fitted

This is the ninth generation, refreshed in 2019, with production ending during 2025. Sizes and pressures here are confirmed on the 2023 car.

• P205/65R16 on LS.
• P225/55R17 on LT.
• 245/45R18 on LT and RS. This is the volume fitment.
• 245/40R19 on LT and 2LT.

LT appears on three of those four rows, which makes the trim name close to useless for identifying the tire. Wheel diameter moves with the specification while the car underneath stays the same, and the tires get wider and the sidewalls shorter as the wheel grows. Read the size off the sidewall or the label. See finding your tire size.

Where the Malibu puts its placard

Inside the driver's door jamb, on the door frame. GM's own owner-facing service guidance says the Tire Information Label, which carries the recommended cold tire pressure, is on the inside of the vehicle's driver door frame.

Open the driver's door and look at the painted edge of the opening rather than at the door itself. This is the straightforward case. Several other makes print the same label on the B-pillar, the upright post beside your shoulder, and their owners search the door edge and give up. Our tire pressure placard guide covers which makes go where.

How to read it once you find it

1. Cold pressure, front.
2. Cold pressure, rear. Equal to the front on the fitments we can confirm.
3. The original tire size, which is one of four on this model line and selects the row that applies to you.
4. The spare, printed separately and normally at a much higher figure.

Cold means the car has been parked at least three hours, or driven under about a mile. A tire warms as it rolls and its pressure rises with it, so a reading taken after a drive is high and will tempt you into letting out air the tire needed.

The verified pressures, and the ones we will not give you

Two independent pressure sources agree exactly on two fitments:

• 245/45R18: 35 psi front and rear.
• 245/40R19: 35 psi front and rear.

For the other two, one source carries a figure and the second does not. That source gives P205/65R16 as 35 front and rear, consistent with the rest of the range, and P225/55R17 as 33 front and rear, which is two psi below everything else here.

The 17-inch is the one to be careful with. A single-sourced figure that differs from the pattern is exactly the sort of thing we will not print as fact, and it is also exactly the sort of difference a fitter working from habit will flatten. If you have an LT on 17-inch wheels, the label on your own car is the authority, and 35 across the board is an assumption rather than an answer.

Replacing fewer than four

The Malibu is front-wheel drive in every trim. There is no all-wheel-drive system to protect, so replacing one or two tires is a normal conversation rather than a compromise, and no GM numeric tread-depth tolerance was found in our sources.

Two new tires belong on the rear axle. A front-drive car with fresh grip at the front and worn tires behind is the one that steps out under braking in the wet, which is the opposite of what most drivers expect. See how many tires and mixing tire brands. For a puncture in the tread rather than the shoulder, start with repair against replace.

What changes on a mobile Malibu fitting

• Direct TPMS, with a sensor in each road wheel, so the job ends with a reset or a relearn rather than a pressure check alone.
• Four possible sizes on one model line. We confirm the size on the car rather than from the trim badge before loading tires.
• The 17-inch fitment has no corroborated pressure in our records, so on those cars we set strictly to the label.
• 245/40R19 is a low-profile fitment. Mounting is routine, but rim damage is easier to find on these and we will tell you if we see it.

What we do

We supply the tires and fit them where the car is parked. Pressure is set to the row on your own door frame label that matches your tire size, the TPMS is reset or relearned where the car supports it, and the old tires leave with us. Pricing is on our mobile tire replacement page.

Questions people ask

• What psi does a Malibu take? 35 front and rear on the 18-inch and 19-inch fitments, corroborated by two sources. The 16-inch and 17-inch are single-sourced and we do not publish them as fact.
• My LT is on 17-inch wheels. What now? Read the label on the car. One source puts that fitment at 33, two below the rest of the range, and one source is not enough for us to print it.
• Where is the label? Inside the driver's door frame. GM names that location in its own service guidance.
• Can I fit just two tires? Yes on this car, and they go on the rear axle.
• Are front and rear different? Not on the fitments we could corroborate. Both axles take the same figure there.
• Does the tire light need resetting? Each wheel has its own sensor, so yes, and that is part of the fitting.