The Tire Rack
www.tirerack.com
The Tire Rack prides itself on being a well-stocked company with informed employees, and from what we saw during our tire testing at Tire Rack's South Bend, Indiana, headquarters, we can't dispute any of its claims. For starters, Tire Rack has a test facility where it tests all the products it sells. That means Tire Rack isn't taking a manufacturer's claimed performance as fact. If a tire, wheel, or suspension package performs, Tire Rack employees know because they tested it themselves.
Every team member spends roughly 80 hours a year in the classroom and testing products. Therefore, when you call to order something, the person taking your order is educated on correct fitments and knows how the product's "character" could affect your car.
As for stock, Tire Rack has four giant warehouses across America -- in Indiana, Nevada, Delaware, and Louisiana -- all stocking more products than you can imagine. In fact, some tire manufacturers use these warehouses as their emergency reserve. For the customer, this means the tire you want is only a one-to-two business-day shipment away.
Reading This Article
We have provided some specific information about each tire in the test, and here's a brief explanation about what some of the terms mean.
Tread Depth - For the most part, the tires we tested come with 10/32-inch tread depth. The shallower the depth, the better dry traction it should have, although the life span may be shorter.
Tread Design - There are two designs in our group of tires: directional and asymmetric. Directional tires have a forward-rolling direction, while asymmetric have tread blocks that must be positioned toward the inside of the vehicle. In some cases, there are directional asymmetric tires.
Tread Wear - Tread wear ratings are obtained on a government-specified course, and although the number doesn't mean much, it's useful for comparison. For example, a tire with a tread-wear rating of 200 will wear twice as well as a tire with a score of 100.
Traction - This rating scores only wet braking, and the tire can achieve AA, A, B, or C, with C being the worst. The AA rating was instated in 1997 when new tires began to excel in wet-braking tests. Keep in mind, the traction rating doesn't take cornering ability into consideration.Temperature - The temperature rating is scored as A, B, or C. The tire is scored with the tires properly inflated and the car not overloaded.
Uniform Tire Quality Grade (UTQG) - The UTQG is comprised of the tread wear, traction, and temperature ratings. The UTQG is a DOT-required test all tires must undergo to be sold for street use in the USA. The UTQG is clearly printed on the sidewall of every tire.
Load Index - This is represented by a number generally between 71 and 110. It's important to note that the load index changes based on the tire's size. For the 225/45-17 we tested, most fell between 90 and 94. A load index of 90 means the tire can support 1,323 pounds, whereas a rating of 94 means it can support 1,477 pounds. The smaller the tire, generally, the lower the load index. If you're driving a car, chances are you'll never overload your tires.
Speed Rating - This is achieved by running a tire on a metal drum at the correct load and speed for 10 minutes, then increasing the speed by 6.2 mph. Most people view Z-rated tires as the best, but this rating is actually outdated. Z-rating means the tire is rated at a generic 149-plus mph, and many people thought there would be no need to rate a tire at a higher speed. Most new tires are rated at V (149 mph), W (168 mph), or Y (186 mph). In fact, many tire manufacturers that list a Z in tire sizes have a W or Y speed rating. In those instances, the W or Y is the correct speed rating. Like the load index, the speed rating changes according to tire size.
Reading a Tire Size
A tire size is usually written as a series of numbers, for example: 225/45-17. The 225 is the tire's width in millimeters. The 45 represents the sidewall height as a percentage of the tire's section width. In this example, the sidewall height of this tire would be 45 percent of 225 mm, or 101.3 mm. The 17 represents the diameter of wheel the tire will fit.
Turner Motorsport
www.turnermotorsport.com
The difficulty with tire testing is driving a road course consistently for two days and being able to feel and remember the nuances of every tire, both in the wet and the dry. That kind of skill can only be found in experienced race car drivers. So that's exactly what we got.Actually, to be on the safe side, we got two.
Will Turner, owner of Turner Motorsport, and Don Salama, one of Turner Motorsport's professional drivers, volunteered for the mission. Their racing experience includes claiming the 2003 Speed World Challenge Touring Car championship, plus a string of race wins and pole positions.
Will Turner runs a total of five BMWs in both the 2004 Speed Touring Cup and Grand-Am Cup, and he owns one of the leading independent BMW race teams in the world. Obviously, he knows his 3-Series, and since he and Don drive a 330i in the Grand-Am Cup, they were perfect for our needs.
Another reason we approached them was because TMS doesn't have any specific affiliation to a tire manufacturer. In fact, Will claims he stopped selling wheels and tires a while ago, instead referring customers to Tire Rack. The only association TMS shares with any tire company is Toyo, which supplies the spec tire for the Speed World Challenge Touring Car class, and ironically, the T1-S used in the series is one of the few tires the drivers didn't agree on.
We'd like to thank both Will and Don for taking the time to attend our event, arriving straight from the Mid-Ohio Grand-Am race where they finished second. Despite some fatigue, they gave us 100 percent and made the test a real success.