Of all the dozens (if not hundreds) of parts that make up a road vehicle, perhaps none is more important than the set of four tyres fitted to your wheels. These keep the rest of the vehicle running smoothly along the road, so it’s only right that EU countries have a labelling system which clearly informs motorists of a tyre’s fuel efficiency, wet grip and noise emissions.
You may already be familiar with the colour-coded A-to-G energy efficiency grading that’s found on household appliances. The same metric is used for rating the fuel efficiency and wet grip of a tyre. An A-grade in these categories is the desired result, indicating that a tyre has a very low rolling resistance and short stopping distances when the driver brakes on a wet road.
The third factor in EU tyre labelling is noise pollution. This is done on a soundwave scale of 1-3, with one wave indicating that the tyre is at least 3 decibels below the legal noise limit, while a tyre with three soundwaves exceeds noise limits that were implemented in recent years.
The infographic below from First Aid Wheels outlines the tyre labelling system in further detail, giving drivers a clear picture of what to look for when purchasing a new set of tyres for their car.
