Consumer information and Reporting safety defects/Uniform tire quality grading standards
Uniform tire quality grading
standards
This information indicates the relative performance of passenger car
tires in the area of treadwear,
traction, and temperature resistance. This is to aid the consumer
in making an informed choice in the
purchase of tires.
Quality grades can be found where
applicable on the tire sidewall between tread shoulder and maximum section width. For example:
Treadwear 200 Traction AA Temperature A
The quality grades apply to new
pneumatic tires for use on passenger cars. However, they do not
apply to deep tread, winter type
snow tires, space-saver or temporary use spare tires, tires with
nominal rim diameters of 12 inches
or less, or to some limited production tires.
All passenger car tires must con-
form to Federal Safety Requirements in addition to these grades.
& Treadwear
The treadwear grade is a comparative rating based on the wear rate of
the tire when tested under controlled conditions on a specified
government test course.
For example, a tire graded 150
would wear one and one-half (11/2) times as well on the government course as a tire graded 100.
The relative performance of tires
depends upon the actual conditions
of their use, however, and may
depart significantly from the norm
due to variations in driving habits,
service practices and differences in
road characteristics and climate.
& Traction AA, A, B, C
The traction grades, from highest to
lowest, are AA, A, B and C. Those
grades represent the tire’s ability to
stop on wet pavement as measured
under controlled conditions on spe-
13-15
cified g