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tire ratings
Making Sense of Tire ratings
Tire Information World : your friendly
independent source of tire help
 Want to know about tire ratings?
Everybody knows ratings for movies are from G to XXX. These
ratings automatically give an idea of what kind of movie you
might see. A person might even get a little excited; have their heart
rate increase before going to an R or X-rated movie, but the truth
about tire ratings is not so sexy.
Before a movie rating is given, somebody somewhere has to review the
movie. When it comes to tires, who are the people that rate tires?
There are so many brands and most of the people selling the tires
will rate their tires the best. Others might say, "I thought tire
ratings had something to do with the numbers on the side of the
tire."
Here is the scoop.
The numbers on the side of the tires are not provided to
cause a blood pressure increase. For many people, these numbers
only produce a dumbfounded look and little understanding about
the tire. For sake of explanation, a tire that has P215/65R 15
95S stamped on the sidewall will help you understand your tires
and tells the type of vehicle the tire should go on, size, rim
diameter, load indexing information and speed ratings.See
Guide to reading tire sidewall markingsto learn
more about this.
There is another ratings system in place when it comes to
tires. Simply put, do the tires you buy for your car have
value, are they rated high for safety, wear, and performance.
Those of the kind of ratings consumers want to know.
In 2007, the scoop on top rated tires goes something like
this: Yokohama Avid TRZ, Falken Ziex ZE512, and BF
Goodrich Traction T/A were the top rated all-purpose tires.
The
three tire brands listed above got top marks for how well the
tires performed.
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How did they perform for wet and dry acceleration and
braking?
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Did they produce a comfortable ride?
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Were the noise levels produced acceptable?
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Are they affordable and a good value for the buck?
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Finally, to achieve the above is it necessary to give up tread
life or shorter warranty periods?
Now when you're shopping for tires and you realize that
there were over 125 all-purpose top rated tires in 2007, what
do you do?
Come up with your own rating system
Ask yourself what you want from your tire. Decide for yourself:
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What kind of ride and noise level you expect,
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The kind of tread wear you expect,
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What are your safety considerations?
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What types of weather you will be driving in most of the
time.
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How much money are you willing to spend to get what want.
With your list in hand compare your requirements with what the
reviewer considered and pick the best candidates base on your
criteria … not the overall rankings which the raters invented.
Going to the movies and buying tires are two different events. At
the same time, knowing your ratings for both will help you get what
is best for you.
While the movie reviewers create the movie ratings for you, your
will have to be the reviewer of tires before you can create your own
rating system.
Once you do your homework, you will definitely beat that dumbfounded
look at the check out counter of your local tire store. You will know
what is important to you and secondly, you will know that all tire
ratings are not created equal.
Other useful links
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See the Hot Wheels Show Room
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