Toyota Corolla tires

The Corolla asks for a different pressure at the front than at the rear, on both of its wheel sizes. That is unusual on a compact car, and it is the thing most often got wrong on this one. Four tires set to the same number is a two to three psi error on the rear axle of every Corolla.

The sizes Toyota fitted

The E210 generation runs from 2020, as a sedan and as a hatchback. Sizes and pressures here are confirmed on the 2023 car.

• 205/55R16 on LE, Hybrid LE, Hybrid XLE and the SE Hatchback. This is the volume fitment.
• 225/40R18 on SE, XSE, Hybrid SE and the XSE Hatchback.

The split exists because the sport trims get a larger wheel and a shorter sidewall on the same car. 225/40R18 is a low-profile fitment on a small car, which makes it less forgiving of potholes and more expensive to replace than the 16-inch. Hybrid trims sit on both sides of the split, so the badge on the boot does not tell you which wheel you have. If the wheels have been changed since the car was built, neither size on the placard describes what is fitted now. See finding your tire size.

Where the Corolla puts its placard

The driver's door jamb. Toyota's own tire-pressure guidance says the correct tire pressure specs are on the driver's door jamb sticker. Open the driver's door and look at the edge of the door opening, roughly level with the latch.

This is the easy case. Several other makes print the same label on the B-pillar instead, the upright post behind your shoulder when the front door is open, and their owners search the door edge and find nothing. On a Toyota, the door edge is right.

How to read it once you find it

Four lines matter.

1. Cold pressure, front.
2. Cold pressure, rear. On this car it is lower than the front, and that is deliberate.
3. The original tire size, which tells you which of the two fitments your car left the factory on.
4. The spare, whose figure is separate and usually much higher.

Cold means 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. Our tire pressure placard guide covers the rest.

The verified pressures

Two independent pressure sources agree exactly, on both fitments:

• 205/55R16: 35 psi front, 33 psi rear.
• 225/40R18: 33 psi front, 30 psi rear.

Read that twice. The front and rear differ on both. The two fitments also differ from each other, by two to three psi. So there are two ways to get this car wrong: set all four equal, or set a sport trim to the volume trim's numbers. A 16-inch car set to a flat 35 is three psi over at the rear. An 18-inch car set to 35 all round is two over at the front and five over at the rear, which shows up as wear down the centre of the tread and a ride that gets noticeably worse.

Identify the wheel first, then set each axle to its own number.

Replacing fewer than four

The Corolla is front-wheel drive in every trim in this generation, including the hybrids. There is no all-wheel-drive system to protect, so replacing one or two tires is a normal conversation rather than a compromise.

Where two go on matters more than how many. New tires belong on the rear axle, because a car with more grip at the front than the rear is the one that spins under braking in the wet. Toyota publishes no numeric tread-depth tolerance for the Corolla, so the judgement is made at the car. See how many tires and mixing tire brands. For a puncture in the tread, repair against replace is the first question.

What changes on a mobile Corolla fitting

• Direct TPMS, with a sensor in each road wheel, so the work ends with a reset or a relearn rather than just a pressure check.
• Two pressure targets on one model line. We read the placard on your car before we inflate anything.
• 225/40R18 on the sport trims is low profile. Mounting is routine, but a bent rim is easier to find on these than on the 16s, and we will say so if we see one.
• Nothing about a Corolla is awkward to lift or reach in a driveway.

What we do

We supply the tires and fit them where the car is parked. Pressure goes to the figure on your own door jamb sticker, front and rear separately, 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 Corolla take? 35 front and 33 rear on the 16-inch fitment, 33 front and 30 rear on the 18-inch. Both figures are corroborated by two independent sources.
• Is the lower rear number a misprint? No. Weight sits differently front to rear, and Toyota set each axle its own target. Set them separately.
• Where is the sticker? Driver's door jamb, on the edge of the door opening, level with the latch.
• My hybrid, which wheel do I have? Hybrid trims come on both 16 and 18 inch wheels. Read the size off the placard or off the sidewall rather than off the trim badge.
• Can I fit just two tires? Yes on this car, and they go on the rear axle.
• Does the tire light need resetting? The car has a sensor in each wheel, so yes, and that is part of the fitting.