Basic designations on tires. Designation of all-season tires. Explanation of tire designation

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:42

When choosing and buying tires for a car, it is very important to understand what all these seemingly incomprehensible letters and numbers on the side surfaces of tires mean. Without certain knowledge, it is simply impossible to make the right choice without resorting to the help of specialists. After all, it is in these signs that the main parameters are laid down, according to which, in fact, rubber is selected.

Deciphering the designation of tires does not require any additional knowledge from the average buyer. To choose the right tires, you just need to know what size they are needed, as well as how and when they will be used.

Where to start

The car owner's manual usually contains some recommendations for the correct selection of tires. This takes into account the type of rims (steel or light alloy), the season of use (summer, winter), as well as the standard factory size. Naturally, not every driver adheres to such recommendations, which is why tires can be installed on the car, which, in their parameters, do not meet the requirements of the manufacturer.

So it's better to start by studying the standard requirements for tires of a certain brand of car. If you are satisfied with the type and size of the rubber that is installed on the car, you simply need to rewrite all the existing designations.

Basic tire parameters: designations, markings

All tire inscriptions are applied to the sidewalls on both sides. The main designations on the tires carry information about:

• manufacturer;
• size;
• speed index;
• load index;
• seasonality of use;
• date of manufacture.

In addition to these, there may be additional designations on tires informing about:

• tire designs;
• tire type;
• material from which the sidewall is made;
• maximum allowable pressure;
• direction of rotation;
• heat resistance;
• quality standard, etc.

Manufacturer data

The designations on the tires containing the name of the manufacturer are applied to the sidewalls in large print. It is simply impossible not to notice him.

The manufacturer is the first thing to decide. Such popular brands as, for example, Nokian, Michelin, Dunlop, Yokohama, Pirelli, Continental, Bridgestone, need no introduction. The tires of these companies are known worldwide for their quality and reliability. But there are other manufacturers whose names few people know. In this case, you will need expert advice or a search for objective reviews.

Tyre size

This criterion is fundamental in choosingrubber. It includes four parameters:

• width;
• profile height;
• design type;
• fitting (inner) diameter.

The tire size designation looks something like this: 185/65R15, where 185 is the width of the working surface of the tire (in mm), 65 is the percentage of the profile height from the width (185:100 x 65%=120, 25 mm), R - design type (radial), 15 - inside diameter (in inches).

Some motorists often confuse the "R" marking with the radius of the rubber. In fact, this is not a tire size designation, but a design type depending on the location of the cords. They can be placed either radially (R) or diagonally (D). Bias ply tires are much rarer these days, as radials, being more practical, have almost supplanted them.

Speed index

This value indicates the maximum permissible speed of the machine, at which the rubber is guaranteed to cope with its tasks. Despite the fact that manufacturers almost always overestimate this parameter, it is strongly not recommended to accelerate your car to this speed. It should also be taken into account here that foreign tire companies have no idea about the condition of our roads, so in no case should you try to check the indicated speed indices. On tires, the designation of maximum acceleration is marked with one letter of the Latin alphabet, indicating the permissible speed. We most often meet rubber markedfollowing letters:

• "L" - 120 km/h;
• "M" - 130 km/h;
• "N" - 140 km/h;
• "P" - 150 kph;
• "Q" - 160 km/h;
• "R" - 170 km/h;
• "S" - 180 km/h;
• "T" - 190 km/h;
• "H" - 210 km/h;
• "V" - 240 km/h;
• "W" - 270 km/h;
• "Y" - 300 km/h.

For sports cars and cars participating in various competitions, a special tire designation is provided. The speed index "ZR", for example, indicates that the rubber can be used in critical speed conditions, i.e. from 240 km/h.

Weight load index

This index indicates the maximum allowable load per wheel in kilograms. However, choosing the right tires by dividing the mass of the car by 4 will not work. Here it must be borne in mind that the weight of the machine is distributed unevenly between the axles, so the resulting index will be significantly overestimated. First you need to subtract 20% of its value from the mass of the car (for SUVs - 30%), and only then divide by 4.

Designations on the load index tires contain two or three digits corresponding to a certain mass. To determine this criterion for different types of cars, there are special tables, but we will consider the main approximate indicators for passenger cars:

• 70 - 335 kg;
• 75 - 387 kg;
• 80 - 450 kg;
• 85 - 515kg;
• 90 - 600kg;
• 95 - 690kg;
• 100 - 800 kg;
• 105 – 925kg;
• 110 – 1030 kg.

It is also worth noting that the higher the load index, the thicker and rougher the carcass of the tire, which significantly reduces its damping qualities.

Winter and summer tires

According to seasonal criteria, all tires are divided into three types:

• summer;
• winter;
• all season.

Summer tires usually do not have any special markings. You can visually distinguish it from other types by the longitudinal grooves designed to drain water. In addition, they are devoid of micropattern. Summer tires are quite tough, which provides optimal wear resistance and maximum grip in freezing temperatures.

The designation of winter tires can contain either the word "Winter" or an icon in the form of a snowflake. They are much softer than summer ones, and have a pronounced high tread with a micro-pattern. The snowflake designation of winter tires ensures their safe use in severe frosts.

Very often, motorists, seeing the markings in the form of the letters "M S" or "M + S" on tires, mistakenly take them for winter ones. But this is not the designation of winter tires. This is a label indicating that rubber can be used in special conditions.

The "M S" designation on the tires is "Mud and Snow", which translates from English as "mud and snow". It can be applied to any tires, regardless of seasonality. In other words, the designation "M S" on tires is a sign indicating that this rubber is designed for off-road driving.or on asph alt covered with wet mud or snow slurry. Such tires are also called lugs, and they are used for the most part either for rally cars or for SUVs.

All-season tires: designations, markings

There are also universal tires that can be used at any time of the year. The designation of all-season tires depends on the conditions of their operation and may have the following abbreviations:

• "AS" (All Season, Any Season) - all seasons;
• "R+W" (Road + Winter) - all season for cold regions;
• "AW" (Any Weather) - all-weather for any weather.

Additionally, the designation of all-season tires often contains the inscriptions "Aqua", "Water", "Aquacontact", "Rain" or an umbrella pattern. This means that the rubber is able to effectively remove water from the plane of contact with the road surface, which significantly reduces the likelihood of aquaplaning. Such tires are called rain tires.

But do not forget that all-weather tires are a rather relative concept, and it is strongly not recommended to use it in extreme conditions.

Date of manufacture

It is necessary to pay attention to the date of manufacture not only when buying used tires, but also when purchasing a new one. The thing is that unscrupulous sellers often buy rubber at a low price, which has been unclaimed in warehouses for years.

Tire manufacturers claim that long-term storage causes tires to lose their shape and performance. Naturally, about anysafety when using such rubber is out of the question.

Find out the release date of a tire is easy. The marking is also applied to the side surface and consists of four digits indicating the week and year. For example, the inscription 1609 indicates that the tire was produced in the 16th week of 2009. Almost all global tire manufacturers adhere to this marking, so its absence on the sidewall is the first sign of non-certified products.

By the way, until 2000, the date was denoted by five digits, the first two of which are the week number, and the other three are the production year code.

Other symbols

But in addition to the main designations, rubber often has other markings:

• "Max Pressure" with a digital indicator - indicates the maximum allowable pressure in the tire (usually in kilopascals or bars);
• "Inside", "Outside" - indicate that the tires are asymmetric;
• "Rotation" with directional arrow - indicates that the tire has a directional design, must be installed accordingly;
• "Temperature" A, B, C - heat resistance index (A - maximum);
• "Traction" A, B, C - braking index that determines the effectiveness of emergency braking (A is the best);
• "Tubeless" - tubeless tire;
• "Tube Type" is a tire designed for use with a camera;
• "RSC" - special tires with Run Flat System Component technology, which allows you to continue driving the car with a puncture or cuttires. Such rubber is able to pass up to 100 km in the absence of internal pressure;
• "TWI" - an inscription indicating that the tire has a special "beacon" located in the groove between the tread, which is an indicator of its wear;
• "PR" is the strength of the tire carcass, measured by the number of rubber layers.

Why tires need colored circles

You must have seen tires with colored circles on the sidewalls. There are many rumors about their origin, ranging from the fact that these are technological marks that are only needed in the rubber production process, and ending with the fact that the manufacturer or seller marks a low-quality or defective tire in this way.

In fact, these multi-colored circles indicate the design features of the tire. The decoding of the designation of tires marked with yellow or red spots is as follows:

• yellow circle is the lightest part of the tire;
• red circle is the heaviest part of the tire;
• green circle - tires for initial installation on the car at the factory

But why would anyone know where is the easy part and where is the hard part? Everything is simple! Typically, for tubed tires, the tire is installed with the lightest area towards the teat. This helps to achieve perfect balance when spinning.

In some cases, on the sidewall of the tire, you can find a marking consisting of a number in a circle, square, triangle, applied with white paint. This is a kind of mark that the product has passed quality control (similar toour OTK). In addition, this stigma indicates the specific controller responsible for the verification.

Colored tread lines

Almost all new tires have multi-colored stripes on the working side of the tires. They are also of no particular interest to the owner of the car and do not carry any useful information for him. The color coding of the tires is intended to make it easier to identify them in storage.

When thousands of tires are stacked in a warehouse, a worker has no way to determine their type and size without seeing the markings located on the sidewall. It is with the help of these colored stripes, arranged in a certain order, that the type of tire and its size can be clearly recognized.