UTQG Ratings & European Labelling Explained

IN THIS ARTICLE:

• Why Your Tyres Have Numbers on Them
• What the Numbers Tell  You
• What the Numbers Don't Tell You
• European Tyre Labelling: Explained
• A Meaningful Conclusion

Why Your Tyres Have Numbers on Them

Those numbers on your tyres had to come from somewhere.  Understanding their history is important as the same numbers on different tyres can mean different things. Huh, we hear you grunt.  And you’d be right.  Because whilst understanding UTQG ratings may be straightforward, there are some differences hiding behind them.  All things in good time though.  Let’s start at the start.  Hold onto your hats folks, we’re heading Stateside and to the year 1966.

The American Senate is about to vote on S.B 2669.  This lovely little bit of legislature is to become more fondly known as the Motor Vehicle Safety Act.  Before it gets to the Senate though, the well intentioned and rather outstanding conservationist, Gaylord Nelson had an amendment tacked on.

It was worth adding something about tyres into the bill too.  In 1965, the leading cause of death in those under 44 was from an automobile accident.  At the same time, a chap by the name of Ralph Nader was being hounded by undercover Private Investigators at the behest of General Motors.  Ralph had just published a book called ‘Unsafe at Any Speed’ which wasn’t overly positive towards the Chevrolet Corvair and GM wanted some dirt to discredit him (they failed - but did draw attention to themselves in a negative way).  So, the time was right to try and tighten up vehicle safety a bit.  

It’s just a shame the US Congress didn’t tighten up on their attention to detail and use of words.  For when the amendment was added, the wording ‘required’ the Department of Transport to get a tyre grading system in place within two years.  It seems the Senators were under the impression they were authorising a feasibility study into a tyre grading system, not passing a rule to set one up.  Yup - the word ‘required’ had hoodwinked them all.  Tricky.  

The end result was a rush to get something in place without the due diligence required to make sure it would work.  Well, when we say rush, we mean it took not the 2 years dictated by the agreed timeline but 13 years of wrangling, back and forth, complaints, court challenges and general red tape and other nonsense.  It took a 1978 US Government funded study (“The Uniform Tyre Quality Grading System: A Case Study of the Government Regulatory Process”) to really draw under a line of the talking and bickering.  So, in 1979 the UTQG system finally swing into action.  What did it do?  It graded tyres based on treadwear, traction and temperature resistance. 

What The Numbers Don’t Tell You

The system described above kind of makes sense right? You provide a rating system which will arm consumers with knowledge of how long the tyres will last, how they perform in the wet and how they handle heat build-up.  You see that information displayed on a tyre and you can make a good call on whether that tyre is good, bad or indifferent.  But here’s the thing...the tests aren’t centralised so comparing the results gives a false indication of tyre performance.  

Huh you say?  Let’s explain.  It’s the manufacturers themselves that test and grade their tyres.  No Government monitoring takes place to ensure consistent application and the guidelines provided, whilst robust, are not necessarily exhaustive enough to eliminate every variable.  We’re not saying tyre manufacturers are purposely misleading you.  We’re saying when you compare the UTQG rating from one manufacturer to that of another, beware.  You’re likely not comparing apples with apples.  Let’s get a little more specific and work through an example...

Manufacturer A has provided a treadwear rating of 700.  This indicates the tyre will last 7 x longer than the control tyre.  The warranty provided on this tyre is for 100,000 miles.

Manufacturer B has provided a treadwear rating of 700.  This indicates the tyre will last 7 x longer than the control tyre.  The warranty provided for this tyre is for 85,000 miles.  

Something isn’t right.  If both tyres have a rating of 700 why is the warranty different?  Maybe one manufacturer doesn’t want to over-promise but given the importance attached to longevity by consumers it would be hard to see a manufacturer downplay how long their tyres might last by providing a shorter warranty. 

Let’s look at it another way.  If Manufacturer B has a provided a rating of 700 against a tyre with a warranty of 85,000 miles - does this mean the control tyre would have a warranty of just 12,142 miles?  For the average NZ motorist this means the control tyres would last just 18 months or so.  

Nope.  Something is wrong here.  The nub of it is the traction ratings, given the lack of controls in testing, only really provide an indication of longevity when compared within a brand.  They don’t work across brands.  That is, if you look at the tyres from Manufacturer A, you know their tyres with a rating of 800 should last twice as long as those they rate as 400.  Just don’t compare their ratings against those from Manufacturer B.  

Confused?  You wouldn’t be the only one.  Take a look at this table which highlights the issue and why you’re right to be confused.

A Meaningful Conclusion

So there we have it.  There’s a lot more numbers and letters on your tyres too.  All mean something...it’s just some mean more than others and some mean less, or are relatively meaningless.  What we mean is, unless you understand them all they won’t mean much and less is not more in this case.  Right then...time for a lie down now.