Pontiac Sunbird Owner's Manual page 228

6uying New Tires
To find out what kind and size of tires
you need, look at the Tire-Loading
Information label.
The tires installed on your vehicle when
it was new had a Tire Performance
Criteria Specification (TPC Spec)
number on each tire's sidewall. When
you get new tires, get ones with that
same TPC Spec number. That way, your
vehicle will continue to have tires that
are designed to give proper endurance,
handling, speed rating, traction, ride
and other things during normal service
on your vehicle. If your tires have an all-
season tread design, the TPC number
will be followed by a "MS" (for mud
and snow).
If you ever replace your tires with those
not having a TPC Spec number, make
sure they are the same size, load range,
speed rating and construction type (bias,
bias-belted or radial) as your original
tires.
Mixing tires could
cause
you
I
L to lose control while driving.
h you
mix
tires of different size;
or types (radial and bias-belted
tires), the vehicle
may
not handle
properly, and you could have a
crash.
Be
sure to use
the same
size
and
type tires
on all four wheels.
It's all right to drive with your
compact spare, though. It was
developed for
use
on your vehicle.
rn
Uniform Tire Quality
Grading
The following information relates to the
system developed by the United States
National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration which grades tires by
treadwear, traction and temperature
performance. (This applies only to
vehicles sold in the United States.)
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