2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:42
A car in the modern world has long ceased to be a luxury (except for status types and brands). New models appear more and more often, along with them the number of “shoes” for them increases. In order to somehow navigate in their diversity, it is not enough just to know the width of the tire and its diameter, a number of other parameters are also needed. To understand all this heap of data, tire labeling was developed. It is somewhat different for European and American manufacturers, but not so dramatically.
European Tire Label
On the side of each tire there is a series of symbols encoded with all the data about it. For example, let's decipher the inscription 175/70 R13 82 T:
- 175/70 (meaning millimeters) - tire width and recommended rim width. The number 70 (meaning%) is the ratio of height and width, i.e. the height of the tire is 70% of its width. Some labels omit this part (185 R14 C 102 Q), which means that this tire has an 80% to 82% ratio. Such tires are called full-profile.
- The letter "R" denotes the type of construction (not the radius) - inin this case, radial. There is also a belt construction (denoted by the Latin letter "B") and a diagonal design (denoted by "D"), but it is very rare.
- The number 13 (inches) indicates the outer diameter of the rim on which the tire is recommended to be mounted, or, accordingly, the inner diameter of the tire.
- The following numbers 8 and 2 indicate the index or load factor. There are tables that show the correspondence between the index and the maximum load in kilograms that the tire can withstand. But there is a general trend - the larger the coefficient, the greater the load the tire can withstand. This information is relevant for trucks, taxis and buses.
- Followed by alphabetic information. In our case it is "T". This is the designation of the maximum speed at which tire parameters are guaranteed to be preserved (the correspondence is also summarized in the tables).
American Tire Label
The designations applied by the Americans differ in alphabetic characters before the digital information: LT 235/75 R 15. These characters contain a decoding of the type of car for which the tire is intended:
- LT - for light trucks;
- P - passenger car;
- C - special tires for trailers;
- T - temporary tires.
There is also an American specific marking of car tires: 31x10.5 R15. Here 31 (inch) is the outer diameter of the tire, 10.5 (the size is indicated in inches) is its width, R is the radial type of construction, 15 (inch) is the inner diameter of the tire.
There are some more designations that indicate tires. For example:
- AS, All Season, M+S, Aw, M&S are all designations for all-weather tires.
- Aquacontact, Aquatred, Rain, Aqua, Water or a painted umbrella are special tires for rain.
- Painted snowflake - for use at low temperatures and with an abundance of snow.
There are many different designations. This is not an easy task - marking car tires. And deciphering the symbols can take a long time if you are not an expert. Maybe you should trust professionals who will be able to advise you on several options, from which you will choose the one that suits you best? Truck tire labeling has its own characteristics, and professional advice is indispensable here.
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