Kia Telluride tires

The Telluride has very little to get wrong on pressure. Two OE sizes, both at 35 psi, front and rear equal, and our two pressure sources agree on both including the trim-to-size mapping. That is the cleanest corroboration of any vehicle in our records. The care goes into the tire itself rather than the number.

The sizes Kia fitted

The first generation runs from 2020 and was refreshed in 2023. Sizes and pressures here are confirmed on the 2023 car.

• 245/60R18 on LX, SX X-Pro and SX Prestige X-Pro. The X-Pro trims carry a more aggressive tread on this size.
• 245/50R20 on S, EX, SX, EX X-Line, SX X-Line, SX Prestige and SX Prestige X-Line. This size covers the most trims.

Two sizes exist on one model because wheel diameter moves with trim while the vehicle underneath does not change. The interesting split is not the diameter, it is that the base LX and the two X-Pro trims share 245/60R18 with different tread. A size lookup will not separate them. The sidewall will. See finding your tire size.

Where the Telluride puts its placard

The driver's door sill, on the driver-side centre pillar. The Kia owner's manual describes the tire and loading information label as located on the driver's door sill, carrying the original tire size and the recommended cold tire pressures.

That is the group-level wording from Kia's shared manual format rather than a statement about this model and year specifically, so confirm it on your own car. Open the driver's door, and if the edge of the door is bare, look at the upright post beside the seat. That post is the B-pillar. Our tire pressure placard guide lists which makes use which location.

How to read it once you find it

1. Cold pressure, front.
2. Cold pressure, rear. Equal to the front on this vehicle.
3. The original tire size, which is what the vehicle was designed around.
4. The spare, printed separately and normally at a much higher figure.

Cold means the vehicle 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 at the end of a journey is high and will tempt you into letting air out that the tire needed.

The verified pressure

35 psi front and rear, on both fitments. Two independent pressure sources agree exactly, and they agree on which trims carry which size, which is more than we can say for most vehicles.

Front and rear are equal, so the common mistake of setting one number across a car that wanted two does not apply. On a Telluride, one number is right on all four corners.

Replacing fewer than four

All-wheel drive is optional on the Telluride. No Kia tire-matching tolerance was found in our sources, and Tire Rack's per-manufacturer matching table does not cover Kia, so there is no numeric limit to quote and we will not make one up.

On a front-drive Telluride, one or two tires is a normal job and two new ones go on the rear axle. On an all-wheel-drive car with three worn tires, matching all four is the safe course and we raise it before fitting. On an X-Pro the tread pattern has to match as well as the size, because a single new aggressive-tread tire against three worn ones differs in rolling circumference. See how many tires and mixing tire brands. For a tread puncture, start with repair against replace.

What changes on a mobile Telluride fitting

• Direct TPMS, with a sensor in each road wheel, so the work ends with a reset or a relearn.
• A heavy three-row SUV. The load index on the label is the specification to keep, and a cheaper tire in the same size with a lower load index is not a substitute.
• 245/50R20 wheels are large and heavy to handle but need no special access. A normal driveway or parking bay is enough.
• X-Pro trims share a size with the LX and not a tread, so we confirm the pattern before quoting a single tire on an all-wheel-drive car.
• The label may sit on the pillar rather than the door edge, so the door gets opened fully before anything is inflated.

What we do

We supply the tires and fit them where the vehicle is parked. Pressure is set to the figure on your own label rather than to a database, the TPMS is reset or relearned where the vehicle supports it, and the old tires leave with us. Pricing is on our mobile tire replacement page.

Questions people ask

• What psi does a Telluride take? 35 front and rear on both OE sizes. Two independent sources agree on that, and on the trim mapping.
• Where is the label? The driver's door sill, on the centre pillar. If the door edge is bare, look at the upright post beside the seat.
• Does the 20-inch take more pressure than the 18? No. Both come out at 35 front and rear.
• My tire says 44 psi on the side. Should I use that? No. That is the maximum the tire can hold, not the pressure the vehicle wants. Use the label figure.
• Can I fit two tires to an AWD Telluride? Sometimes, and we look at the other two first. There is no published Kia tolerance to measure against.
• Is a cheaper tire in the same size fine? Only if the load index matches. This is a heavy vehicle and that number is part of the specification.