DECODING MARKINGS

FUEL EFFICIENCY:

Rated A– G, best to worst. However, for our purposes this is a di cult property to interpret, as to a large extent rolling resistance equates to grip, hence we might actually regard G as a good thing. R888R – F T1-Sport – E

WET GRIP:

Rated A– G, best to worst. A is definitely most desirable. As a comparison, an F-rated tyre can take an additional 18 metres to stop from 50 mph than an A-rated tyre. Meaning when the A-rated tyre has stopped the F-rated tyre is still doing around 30 mph, which could the di erence between no crash and a major incident! R888R – E T1-Sport – B

NOISE LEVELS:

Rated with 1, 2 or 3 black bars and the tyre dB rating. The lower these numbers, the better. This quality tends to go hand in hand with comfort and is arguably of little interest to performance car enthusiasts. R888R – 71dB T1-Sport – 71dB

TREADWEAR:

The higher the number, the better the longevity (100/280). 100 denotes a standard test cycle, so 280 would theoretically last 2.8 times longer. R888R – 100 T1-Sport – 280

TRACTION: A

An indicator of wet traction performance, AA – A – BC in descending performance order. R888R – AA T1-Sport – AA

TEMPERATURE: T

The ability to dissipate destructive heat build-up, A– B – C in descending capacity. R888R – A T1-Sport – A To assist us in our choice of tyres, from November 2012 tyre-labelling laws came into force, which require all tyres to bear a label similar to that found on domestic white goods, detailing wet grip, fuel e ciency and noise level. Additionally, moulded into the sidewall can be found the American ‘UTQG’ (Uniform Tire Quality Grade) specification, too.