Information on speed rated tires

1 ANSWERS

1. John
   

   Hello

   I think you will find that most light truck tires are speed rating. Certainly the tires supplied to GM are.

   However, you will find that most light truck tires have low speed ratings compared to passenger car tires. This is due to the nature of the tire in the 2 categories.

   Typically, passenger car tires are minimally speed rated at S which is fairly easy to achieve by using conventional tire design techniques. T and higher speed rating usually require some additional reinforcement to achieve those speed ratings.

   A light truck tires cannot be designed using conventional design techniques to achieve more than a Q speed rating - and in some cases an R. Speed ratings higher than that are achievable using the same design techniques as passenger car tires, but then the speed ratings generally stop at S.

   To find the speed rating of a tire, you need to find the Service Description. It will be in the form of a number and a letter, like this 116Q where the numbers are the load index and the letter is the speed rating. For light truck tires, it is customary to have to load indices as light truck tires are sometimes dulled 2 tires mounted side to side on the same corner 4 to an axle. In this case the Service Description will look like this 116-113Q.

   Do a little searching and I think you will find a tire with a suitable speed rating?

   BTW, it is more likely you will find these tires on the North American side of the ocean as Europe uses smaller pickup trucks and vans than the US and Canada.

   Thanks
    

   Report (0) (0)  |   1 year, 1 month(s) ago