I know the EU is widely hated here but the EU tyre label is one of the best things they have introduced. Many budget tyres have better wet grip ratings than expensive tyres. Tyres can now be judged on official test results rather than marketing hype.
I disagree with immense passion.
It means that manufacturers aim to hit 3 areas, 2 of which are entirely pointless, at the expense of everything else. To emphasise my point, may I present the utter useless, dangerous Continental Sport Contact 5.
If you've never purchased a tyre before or are a complete imbecile, the eu labelling "might" be of use to a buyer. Other than that its utterly useless as the main attributes of a tyre, and hence the handing of the car, is completely ignored, as TB says, in order to satisfy the random musings of an arrogant eu beuroidiot that thinks he/they know better than all the tyre makers put together.
Well as I expected. For people who take these things a bit more seriously, like Goodyear, here is their guide to the EU ratings:
https://www.goodyear.eu/uk_en/tire-advice/eu-tire-label/If you do a little research you'll see that the EU label testing is very though and most of all independent of the manufacturer. Especially as regard wet grip. If on the other hand you prefer to be spoon fed marketing info and buy fancy labels at inflated prices, go ahead.
It is completely beyond me however why the EU didn't include tramlining as a fourth rating
Just opened my bag of popcorn
For those interested in the boring but scientifically tested characteristics of tyres and not what the marketing people or some bloke down the forum told you, or some website that collates personal opinions of tyres, here is the wet grip test (which is actually a United Nations standard). Start at page 49:
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/main/wp29/wp29regs/r117rev.2E.pdf
Here's a taster
Test procedure for measuring wet grip
1. General Test Conditions
1.1. Track characteristics
The track shall have a dense asphalt surface with a gradient in any direction
not exceeding 2 per cent. It shall be of uniform age, composition, and wear
and shall be free of loose material or foreign deposits. The maximum
chipping size shall be 10 mm (tolerances permitted from 8 mm to 13 mm)
and the sand depth measured as specified in ASTM standard E 965-96 (2006)
shall be 0.7 ±0.3 mm.
The surface friction value for the wetted track shall be established by one or
other of the following methods:
1.1.1. Standard reference test tyre (SRTT) method
When tested using the SRTT and the method given in paragraph 2.1. the
average peak brake force coefficient (pbfc) shall be between 0.6 and 0.8. The
measured values shall be corrected for the effects of temperature as follows:
pbfc = pbfc (measured) + 0.0035 (t - 20)
where "t" is the wetted track surface temperature in degrees Celsius.
The test shall be conducted using the lanes and length of the track to be used
for the wet grip test;
1.1.2. British pendulum number (BPN) method
The averaged British pendulum number (BPN) of the wetted track, measured
in accordance with the procedure given in the ASTM standard E 303-93
(2008) and using the pad as specified in ASTM standard E 501-08, shall be
between 40 and 60 after temperature correction. Unless temperature
correction recommendations are indicated by the pendulum manufacturer, the
following formula can be used:
BPN = BPN (measured value) + 0.34 · t - 0.0018 · t² - 6.1
where "t" is the wetted track surface temperature in degrees Celsius.
In the lanes of the track to be used during the wet grip tests, the BPN shall be
measured at intervals of 10 m along the length of the lanes. The BPN shall be
measured 5 times at each point and the coefficient of variation of the BPN
averages shall not exceed by 10 per cent.
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Topic: Tyre choice for the Omega (Read 30312 times)