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Wheels
Uniform Tire Quality Grading
is a tire information system devel-
oped by the United States Nation-
al Highway Traffic Safety Admin-
istration (NHTSA) that is designed
to help buyers make relative com-
parisons among tires. The UTQG
is not a safety rating and not a
guarantee that a tire will last for
a prescr ibed number of miles
(kilometers) or perform in acer-
tain way. It simply gives tire buy-
ers additional information to
combine with other considera-
tions, such as price, brand loyalty
and dealer recommendations. Un-
der UTQG, ti res are graded
by
the
tire manufacturers in three areas:
treadwear , traction, and tempera-
ture resistance . The UTQG infor-
mation on the tires, molded into
the sidewalls.
U.S. DOT Tire Identification
Number (TIN)
This is the tire's "serial number" .
It begins with the letters "DOT"
and indicates that the tire meets
all federal standards. The next
two numbers or letters indicate
the plant where it was manufac -
tured, and the last four numbers
represent the
week
and year of
manufacture . For example,
22 4
DOT ... 2215 ...
means that the tire was produced
in the 22nd week of 201 5. The
other numbers are marketing co-
des that may or may not be used
by the tire manufacturer . This in-
formation is used to contact con-
sumers if a tire defect requires a
recall.
Veh icle capacity weight
means the rated cargo and lug-
gage load plus 150 lbs . (68 kilo-
grams) times the vehicle's desig -
nated seating capacity .
Vehicle maximum load on the
tire
means that load on an individual
tire t hat is determined by distrib -
uting to each axle its sha re of the
maximum loaded vehicle we ight
and dividing by two.
Vehicle normal load on the tire
means that load on an individual
tire t hat is determi ned by distrib-
uting to each axle its share of the
curb weight, accessory weight,
and normal occupan t weight (dis-
tributed in accordance with
c::>
ta-
ble on page 230)
and dividing by
two .
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