Posted on 06/23/2009 10:28:14 AM PDT by envisio
The U.S. Department of Transportation has proposed a new replacement tire label that would include, for the first time, information about the tire's impact on fuel economy and carbon dioxide emission reductions.
The proposal, which was put forth by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), also would provide customers "with two other key pieces of tire performance information: wet weather traction and tread wear," according to NHTSA officials.
All three ratings would be displayed on a removable label attached to the replacement tire at the point of sale.
The new ratings also will appear on the federal government's www.safercar.gov Web site to help consumers compare ratings as they shop for tires.
"Today's proposal takes the guess work out of buying the best tires for your vehicle," says U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "Our proposal would let customers look at a single label and compare a tire's overall performance as it relates to fuel economy, safety and durability."
Wow!
Now that a crack team of federal rule making officials have so adeptly taken care of the critical issue of us NOT knowing how many tenths of a gallon a given set of tires might hurt our vehicles’ fuel mileage I’ll FINALLY be able to sleep at night!
Someone told them it made a woodpecker cry to have low-resistant tires. Thats 10%.
The other 90% is MARKETING.
“This Tire is Rated “Q”, meaning that it will deliver a fuel efficiency of 47 MPG, if inflated to precisely 35.228 PSI, and mounted to a 3 cylinder Fiat Panda being driven over flat terrain at sea level...”
Seriously, though, some tires work better on some cars than they do on others. Is every tire manufacturers going to have to test every possible tire/vehicle combination of their products?
...with a 12 knot tail-wind.
Oh good more items I can’t read on the side of the tire.
Yep. Federal.
Just like load index and speed rating. Federal regulations. (For P-[passenger car] tires only. LT does not apply.)
Is every tire manufacturers going to have to test every possible tire/vehicle combination of their products?<<<<<<<<
No, just loaded testing.
Wouldn’t the traction and heat resistace ratings cover that?
Nope.
Traction rating is based on wet skid testing.
Temperature rating represents the tire’e resistance to the geneartion of heat and its ability to dissipate heat.
99.9 % of people do not care
Size, mileage rating and price is the thing 99.9 % people care about and how long the wait will be
Tires are not specific to tire pressure. Vehicles are. You run the specified air pressure on the vehicle placecard regardless of the rating of the tire.
Your tires are grossly overinflated.
You know V is the speed/performance rating, right? The numbers before the V is load index.
Just saying, you can run whatever you want but you supposed to run what is labeled on the vehicle. If your car came into my shop I would immediately adjust that pressure before diagnosing anything else.
(And FWIW I don’t have a retail shop, I haven’t been in retail since 15years ago. My shop is corporate contracted by SEMA to do fitment measuring sessions and I do seminars once a week to help dealers that are struggling with the new federal Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems regulations. I would sign you up but its for dealers only.)
Yes, I know what thev V rating is. What’s on the door panel is good for most folks, but a firmer ride, better handling, and better mileage are to my liking. I have no problems with uneven tire wear, or a ride that’s too jarring.
It’s sounds like an interesting seminar..Are the tire pressures discussed these days on air or nitrogen? I understand that racers have been using nitrogen for some years now..
Air molecules are small enough to seep out of the inner liner over time. Pure nitrogen molecules are larger and cannot seep out. Nitrogen also does not expand and contract at the same rate of air, making the pressure more stable. In racing, this equates to better fine tuning and stable air pressure as the tire heats up.
For consumers, this equates to nothing. There is no measurable gain. Its just marketing. The pressure increase when the tire heats up from air to nitrogen is 2%. That is not enough to trigger a TPMS. That is not enough to measure any increased miliage.
Although racers can benefit becuase of the radical changes in temperature and the fine tuning necessary, consumers will see no measurable benefit. Its simply marleting for consumers.
A friend of mine in NY said he got soaked 45 dollars for the nitrogen...
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