Tire UTQG Rating

[Superman]

I've got another thread going related to wheel options and I need tires too. Different conversation. Different thread.

I see expensive tires and inexpensive tires. High performance. I believe they are all 'good' quality. Here are my questions:

Is it possible that a tread wear of 200 (wears out fast) and a tread wear of 340 (wears out a little less fast) might be similar in adhesion? Today's tires get a LOT of adhesion, even in high-mileage tires.

I suspect that for our cars, sidewall stiffness is important. I'm not sure how to compare tires on sidewall stiffness without doing a TON of research. Any ideas for me?

[Driven97]

There's a test for UTQG, but manufacturers are free to rate their tires _lower_ than what they test if desired. So don't put much stock in the number as meaning anything.

SCCA used to have a 180 minimum, then switched to 200. A few of the popular tires magically had 200 stamped on the side the next year, with zero other design change.

[kuehl]

"Is it possible that a tread wear of 200 (wears out fast) and a tread wear of 340 (wears out a little less fast) might be similar in adhesion? "

Ignoring the UTQG (US) or ETRTO (Euro) standards and the tire manufacturer's rating system for the moment, assuming same tire model on same car, if one tire has a larger contact foot print its 'adhesion' qualities could be better in various situations.

When researching tires for my non Porsche vehicles I often read all the car owner reviews on Tire Rack (or you can read Consumer's Reports) when researching a replacement tire. It is interesting to see where one vehicle owner states, for example, they only got 30,000 miles out of a given tire while another vehicle owner states they got 60,0000 miles. Or, when an owner complains about snow traction while another has only good things to say. You have to take into account what vehicles they are driving, are they exactly the same models or do they have different wheel bases, gross weight, traction control, toe alignment, etc., and naturally take into account the bias. (not ply, lol)

When researching tires for my Porsche I'd start with reading what other Porsche owner's here in the PP community or Rennlist have to say.

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by Superman

I've got another thread going related to wheel options and I need tires too. Different conversation. Different thread.

I see expensive tires and inexpensive tires. High performance. I believe they are all 'good' quality. Here are my questions:

Is it possible that a tread wear of 200 (wears out fast) and a tread wear of 340 (wears out a little less fast) might be similar in adhesion? Today's tires get a LOT of adhesion, even in high-mileage tires.

I suspect that for our cars, sidewall stiffness is important. I'm not sure how to compare tires on sidewall stiffness without doing a TON of research. Any ideas for me?

Within a given manufacturers line up
the UTQG is relevant for comparison, but across different manufacturers lines it's more of a guide line than actual comparison.

Modern tires are generally really good in both grip and durability, unless you want bleeding edge performance in some specific area it would be hard to go wrong.

But different tires certainly each have their own particular forte, usually at the expense of other areas.

I wouldn't overthink side wall stiffness too much, I would consider what others use and why they use it, Tirerack also has some fairly well done tests that are informative across lines.

[T77911S]

i would not bother with a rating difference that is so small like 200 to 320, now if you are talking about 200 and 500 I think there IS a traction difference. you can just look at each tires intended use. there are "race" tires that are street legal. those are going to have a very low rating and of course much better traction than 500 family car tire.

I have had the Michelin sports, about 560 rating, last time and the continental, about the same rating, on my 930. actually have the conti on there now., the traction seems to be about the same but the slip angles on the contis are much higher and makes the car more scary to drive because the back end moves around a lot more. I have not pushed the contis to break free yet but so far the traction seems pretty good.

don't forget alignment when it comes to how tires wear