Mercedes-Benz 2009 S-Class Operator's Manual page 468

Operation
Tires and wheels
maximum speed permitted by the electronic
speed limiter.
Make sure your tires have the required tire
speed rating as specified for your vehicle in
the "Technical data" section ( Y
for example when purchasing new tires.
If you are uncertain about the correct reading
of the information given on a tire's sidewall,
any authorized Mercedes-Benz Center will be
glad to assist you.
Load identification
Load identification
1
i For illustration purposes only. Actual data
on tires are specific to each vehicle and
may vary from data shown in above
illustration.
466
In addition to tire load rating, special load
identification
1
sidewall following the letter designating the
tire speed rating
page 594),
No specification given: absence of any text
R
(like in above example) indicates a
standard load (SL) tire.
XL or Extra Load: designates an extra load
R
(or reinforced) tire.
Light Load: designates a light load tire.
R
C, D, E: designates load range associated
R
with the maximum load a tire can carry at
a specified pressure.
DOT, Tire Identification Number (TIN)
U.S. tire regulations require each new tire
manufacturer or tire retreader to mold a TIN
into or onto a sidewall of each tire produced.
The TIN is a unique identifier which facilitates
efforts by tire manufactures to notify
purchasers in recall situations or other safety
matters concerning tires and gives
purchasers the means to easily identify such
tires.
The TIN is comprised of "Manufacturer's
identification mark", "Tire size", "Tire type
code" and "Date of manufacture".
may be molded into the tire
Y
( page 463).
6
DOT
1
Manufacturer's identification mark
2
Tire size
3
Tire type code (at the option of the tire
4
manufacturer)
Date of manufacture
5
i For illustration purposes only. Actual data
on tires are specific to each vehicle and
may vary from data shown in above
illustration.
DOT (Department of Transportation)
Tire branding symbol denotes that the tire
1
meets requirements of the U.S. Department
of Transportation.