Europe sets new regulations for tire ratings

[orange4boy]

All tires will require this new label showing RR, aquaplaning and noise level rating.

Our appliances have these ratings. What's stopping the tire companies?

Obama? Harper? Are you listening?

From Nokian press release:

[cfg83]

orange4boy -

I don't know about the loud tire part ...



This is cool for me because I will be able to check the RR status of my Continentel Contact-Pros. But I will have to wait until 2012, ?

CarloSW2

[RobertSmalls]

Ooh, very nice. It makes consumers aware of important parameters they wouldn't otherwise know about. Even if the system is never adopted outside the EU, it will create awareness of Crr. That alone will drive innovation.

But they should have made A the worst and G the best, giving themselves room for expansion. Tires are only going to get better, and 15 years from now, we'll have to choose between AAA rated and AAAAAAA rated tires. Or worse, they'll all be A rated.

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by orange4boy

... Our appliances have these ratings. What's stopping the tire companies? ...

Making tires uses lots of oil. Specifics below.

My theory is that the tire mfg industry is in bed with the oil industry. Buying as much oil as they do they apparently aren't willing to put the screws to to Big Oil. So they are perfectly happy to help us ignore the effects of tire design on fuel consumption.

"According to Federal data, each car tire requires seven gallons of petroleum to make, and each truck tire takes 22 gallons. Altogether, it takes 2.6 billion gallons of oil to make America’s tires each year."

Reference for quote above:
Rep. Johnson proposes TIRE Act to curb pollution, oil dependence | Congressman Hank Johnson, Representing the 4th District of Georgia

Unfortunately the oil industry seems to think that the more oil they sell, and the faster they sell it, the better off they will be. Um, they're omitting the "until it runs out" part.

[mchlbk]

In the EU we have this energy efficiency rating system on a lot of things. The implementation of the system varies in each country, though. On some products the energy rating system is imposed by EU legislation and on other products each country has its own system - or no system at all.

In Denmark we use the system for cars, light bulps, refrigerators, freezers, tumble dryers and other items with a potentially large energy "impact". A is always best.

[Piwoslaw]

When 'A' isn't enough, there are appliances with 'AA' or 'A+'. I've seen washing machines rated 'Double A+', meaning they not only save electricity but also water.

I can't find the source now, but I may have read that the tire ratings will be given by the manufacturer, not some independent institution. This would mean that each company can rate their tire however they please, making comparing two tires almost impossible. I may have this mixed up with something else, so don't believe me until a source is found.