Audi have recently brought out a 2nd OEM tyre spec. AO1 This spec. is for tyres with a longer life and better fuel consumption, at the expense of wet grip. But, for some reason, they are noisier!? OK. Both are class 'A' for wet grip but the test for the class is not set very high!
Hi Dave, ... longer life and better fuel consumption = harder compound / stiffer shoulders = more noise ? See below a recent quote from a different OEM tyre manufacturer that I enquired to ...
Hi Andrew. Makes sense that hard compounds are noisier! Never thought of it that way. My experience of the noisiest tyres I have ever had were some Japanese Falken uber soft 'AAA' grip sidewall marked tyres on the AUDI. They were so grippy that acceleration felt sluggish! When they wore out I could only get 'AA' marked replacements and they were quieter!
Initially I thought tyre labels were all good, but the manufacturers self assess/classify the tyres and the rolling resistance test is done on an indoor rig. It also seems to have steered the development of tyres toward label ratings to the detriment of their overall use as highlighted here.
I am with you on that Rob. I have ordered the AO spec again. With the car on Sachs Race Engineering coil-overs, and solid R32 wishbone bushes, the car corners like it's on rails even in the wet!
The problem with these new tyre labels is that the standard for wet grip is 'obviously' set too low. When we bought the car it came on Kuhmo tyres that were rated 'A' for wet grip but were not that good in the wet. They need to revert back to grip ratings that used to be on the sidewalls: 'A' 'AA' 'AAA' The we would know that 'AAA' will give the best wet grip.
I agree. At the other end of the spectrum budget tyres described by some owners as like driving on ice in wet (Barum) should not be wearing anything like a light green C for wet. The label ought to display an ambient operating temperature range too in my opinion.
Found the following ... UTQG (Uniform Tire Quality Grading) for Treadwear, Temperature and Traction is nothing to do with EU or UK regulations - it's a USA-only system that tyre manufacturers leave on for sales here, just like the max load/pressure panel and DOT codes which also only apply in the USA. Whilst it's true that good tyres get better ratings than poor tyres, the system is all but useless here particularly because of inconsistencies in Treadwear testing between manufacturers. Even Americans don't give Treadwear full credence, prefering to rely on "guaranteed" mileage tyres" offered by manufacturers/dealers there - but when you realise they have guarantees from 40k miles up to 100k miles you realise that their tyre compounds are very different to ours, even in familiar versions - so for that reason alone, ignore any Tirerack comparisons you find on the interweb - they're very useful for Americans and Canadians but not for us - I wish we had something equivalent using tyres actually sold here. Regarding the Traction (A - AA) / Wet Braking markings, having just checked three different tyre sets here ... they are all AA whereas the EU label for two of them is an A vs. a C (Pirelli PZero vs. Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2). Go figure !!!
Interesting Andrew. What makes life more difficult is that the dealers don't shown what the traction (not grip - ta so Andrew) rating is. When I was bought first set of the Falken tyres they were rated 'A' on the EU label. It was a nice surprise to find that they were 'AAA' for traction. A few months later I bought some replacements, for the front, and the details on the website were identical to previous. I.E. 'A' on the EU label. So I thought that I was buying identical tyres. But on receipt they were only 'AA' traction. (Can't find the invoice for the first 4) So, one can't make an objective value judgement with regard to how the tyres will really perform with the present system. All one can do is take a chance from, previous experience, and hope for the best. From experience one can't trust tyre tests in magazines. I bought Michelin XAS back in 1969 and wrote off my Mk1 Escort Road Rally car the first time it rained. I bought them because MOTOR and AUTOCAR raved about them when testing a new BMW on which XAS were the OEM tyres. It turns out that they were lying through their teeth. Twenty years later one of the teasters admitted in an article in MOTOR that it was wet in Spain and every BMW had left the road at some stage The previous DUNLOPs would have gripped nicely all the way through the wet bend. I am very happy with the DUNLOP SPORT MAX RT AO and, until they change the design, I'll stick to them.
Well folks. Bad news for UK Dunlop buyers. As expected Dunlop will not release meaningful data to permit an objective value judgement! But worse still, they are taking AO tyres off the UK market. I shall keep buying AO from Germany until they spoil things completely. They did this before in the 1970s with the SP4 tyre. This tyre was so good that most manufacturers used it as a Road Rally tyre. Clark won the Tour of Britain in an Escargot on these tyres. I bought some for the SAAB 96 and they were awesome. (The Dunlop B1 Rally tyre was too wide for the 96 being designed for the 99. In those days only SAAB and Porsche used 15" wheels!) The next set of SP4s were the opposite. They were awful! WHY!? The first set were made in Germany and the second set in Birmingham.
