EU tyre ratings

[A900ss]

If a tyre gets an A grade for Wet performance it means it has stopped a car at a designated speed quicker than a lower rated tyre by X%.

Is it therefore safe to assume that A rated Wet tyres are better at traction and cornering in the wet than a lower rated tyre or could the A rated tyre have been designed just to perform well at stopping and therefore get the 'marketing' grade that the manufacturer desires?

[E65Ross]

A900ss said:

If a tyre gets an A grade for Wet performance it means it has stopped a car at a designated speed quicker than a lower rated tyre by X%.

Is it therefore safe to assume that A rated Wet tyres are better at traction and cornering in the wet than a lower rated tyre or could the A rated tyre have been designed just to perform well at stopping and therefore get the 'marketing' grade that the manufacturer desires?

Good question, but I would also assume (perhaps wrongly) that it would generally be better for traction and grip in the wet too.

Likewise, a tyre that meets the "A" grade could well exceed it significantly, yet a "B" grade may only be 1 grade down, but potentially a larger difference than it would be from "B" to "C".

[BritishRacinGrin]

It doesn't really work that way. The higher rated tyre won't necessarily offer better traction or lateral grip than the lower rated one. As you say the test is very specific, cornering and traction aren't tested.

[kambites]

The test is purely of stopping distance from 80kph on a certain amount of water on a certain road surface. It tells you nothing about anything else.

[jon-]

kambites said:

The test is purely of stopping distance from 80kph on a certain amount of water on a certain road surface. It tells you nothing about anything else.

While I'm sure there's a correlation overall, on a tyre to tyre basis - this. Actually, it gets worse Kambites, there's variance built in for surface grip, temperature and water depth, and the manufacturers know how to tweak the tests around the maths to get the best result. Anyway.

As mentioned in another thread I tested a good label (A or B, I forget) vs a bad label (F) in wet braking and wet cornering.

As the labels said, the higher rated tyre in wet braking was the better tyre in wet braking.

The F labeled tyre was a fair bit better in wet cornering.

[A900ss]

This has also got me thinking more about my current set-up.

I have Uniroyal Rainsport 3‘s on the front of my car (A rated) and Toyo T1R's on the rear (E rated). My car does not have ABS so I'm thinking in very hard braking (in the wet at least), the rear tyres could lose grip earlier than the fronts so could result in the rear of the car trying to overtake the front.

Or maybe I should just get a life




Edited as I originally posted that the Toyo's are F rated when they are in fact E rated.

Edited by A900ss on Monday 5th May 10:14

[Axionknight]

A900ss said:

This has also got me thinking more about my current set-up.

I have Uniroyal Rainsport 3‘s on the front of my car (A rated) and Toyo T1R's on the rear (F rated). My car does not have ABS so I'm thinking in very hard braking (in the wet at least), the rear tyres could lose grip earlier than the fronts so could result in the rear of the car trying to overtake the front.

Or maybe I should just get a life

Edited by A900ss on Monday 5th May 09:56

Try it and find out - but hold on tight!

[Mr2Mike]

A900ss said:

This has also got me thinking more about my current set-up.

I have Uniroyal Rainsport 3‘s on the front of my car (A rated) and Toyo T1R's on the rear (F rated). My car does not have ABS so I'm thinking in very hard braking (in the wet at least), the rear tyres could lose grip earlier than the fronts so could result in the rear of the car trying to overtake the front.

Or maybe I should just get a life

Edited by A900ss on Monday 5th May 09:56

What size T1R is F rated for wet braking performance?

[A900ss]

Mr2Mike said:

A900ss said:

This has also got me thinking more about my current set-up.

I have Uniroyal Rainsport 3‘s on the front of my car (A rated) and Toyo T1R's on the rear (F rated). My car does not have ABS so I'm thinking in very hard braking (in the wet at least), the rear tyres could lose grip earlier than the fronts so could result in the rear of the car trying to overtake the front.

Or maybe I should just get a life

Edited by A900ss on Monday 5th May 09:56

What size T1R is F rated for wet braking performance?

Apologies - it's actually E rated. 225/50 16. I'll amend my post above accordingly.