Toyota RAV4 tires

Two RAV4s built in the same year, on the same 17 inch wheels, can have different pressures on their door stickers. Toyota's own manual lists them as build types, and across the types the correct cold pressure runs from 33 to 36 psi. That is why we read the sticker on your car instead of quoting a number down the phone.

The sizes Toyota fitted

Across the XA50 generation, 2019 to 2025, including Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid:

• 225/65R17 102H on LE and XLE, front-drive or all-wheel drive, and on Hybrid LE and Hybrid XLE. This is the volume fitment.
• 225/60R18 100H on TRD Off-Road, Hybrid SE, Hybrid XSE, Hybrid Limited, Hybrid XLE Premium, Woodland Edition and the Plug-in Hybrid SE.
• 235/55R19 101V on Adventure, XLE Premium, Limited and the Plug-in Hybrid XSE.

Three sizes exist because wheel diameter moves with trim while the car underneath stays the same. Load index and speed rating move with it, which is why an 18 inch tire is not a stand-in for a 19 inch one even when the rolling diameter looks close.

If the wheels have been changed since the car was built, the tires on it now may not be the size the placard names, and the placard pressure stops being a direct answer. See finding your tire size.

Where the RAV4 puts its placard

The driver's side door jamb. Toyota's own guidance says the correct tire pressure specs can be found on your driver's door jamb sticker and in the owner's manual. Open the driver's door and look at the edge of the door opening, roughly level with the latch.

The RAV4 is on the easy side of this. Toyota and Honda use the jamb, so the common advice works. GM trucks, Ram, Nissan, Subaru and Tesla put the same label on the B-pillar, the upright post between the doors, which is why owners of those cars hunt the door edge and find nothing.

The pressures, and why there is a spread

From the Toyota owner's manual specification tables, read across the 2021, 2024 and 2025 books:

• 17 inch, 225/65R17: the build types run 33, 35 or 36 psi, front and rear equal
• 18 inch, 225/60R18: 33 psi front and rear on every listed build
• 19 inch, 235/55R19: 33 or 35 psi depending on the build type

35 psi front and rear is the single most common value across the range, and that is the figure we would expect on a RAV4. It is also wrong for every 18 inch car and for a good number of the others. The spread is small in absolute terms and large in practice, because two psi down on every corner is how a tire starts wearing at the shoulders.

Cold means the car has been parked at least three hours, or driven under 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.

Replacing fewer than four

The RAV4 manual has no all-wheel-drive rule demanding four tires, and Toyota publishes no numeric tread-depth tolerance for the car. What it does say is that replacement tires must match the original size, construction and load capacity, and that snow tires have to be fitted to all four wheels.

On an all-wheel-drive RAV4 with three well worn tires, the safe course is still to match all four or to ask before fitting fewer. On a front-drive car there is more room to fit two, and they go on the rear axle. See how many tires and mixing tire brands.

What changes on a mobile RAV4 fitting

• Wheel nut torque is 76 ft-lbf. Toyota asks for the nuts to be re-checked after 1000 miles following a tire change or rotation, which is worth doing whoever fits them.
• Direct TPMS, with a pressure warning valve and transmitter in each road wheel. Toyota warns that tire work can affect them and that non-genuine wheels may stop them working.
• The compact spare has no transmitter, so the warning light stays on the whole time it is fitted. That is normal rather than a fault.
• The spare is a temporary tire at 60 psi: T165/80R17 on 17 and 18 inch cars, T165/90D18 on 19 inch cars. Some 2025 builds carry an emergency puncture repair kit and no spare at all, so there is nothing to swap onto at the roadside.
• Wheels are 17x7J, 18x7J and 19x7.5J. Nothing awkward to lift or reach.

What we do

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

Questions people ask

• What PSI does a RAV4 take? Most often 35 front and rear, but 33 is correct for every 18 inch car and for some others. Read the jamb sticker before you inflate.
• Why do two identical-looking RAV4s have different numbers? Toyota builds the car in several specifications and tabulates the placard pressure by build type, not by trim name.
• Where is the sticker? Driver's door jamb. Open the door and look at the edge of the opening, level with the latch.
• My tire light stays on with the space-saver fitted. Expected. The compact spare has no TPMS transmitter, so the system cannot see it.
• My 2025 has no spare. Some builds ship with a puncture repair kit instead, which means a fitting or a tow rather than a wheel swap.
• Can you fit two tires to an AWD RAV4? Sometimes, and we look at the tread on the other two first. Toyota publishes no tolerance figure, so it is a judgement made at the car.