Tyre labels

[DrNick]

Wonder if it will actually provide any useful information? It has potential?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18870978

 

[sars]

First thoughts are that this seems a good idea, however this is subject to who actually performs the tests, manufacturers or an independent agent?

 

[mmm-five]

The tests are carried out, and reported by the manufacturer, so is purely subjective and only really useful for comparing tyres from the same manufacturer.

 

[DrNick]

Interesting - are the tests not carried out to a similar protocol/standard?

 

[Adamski]

Saw this - won't make any difference for people who just want "a cheap tyre"....

Could be useful though to get a quiet tyre etc

 

[sars]

The tests are carried out, and reported by the manufacturer, so is purely subjective and only really useful for comparing tyres from the same manufacturer.

Then it's pretty useless then :thumbsdown:

 

[mmm-five]

Interesting - are the tests not carried out to a similar protocol/standard?

It's a self-certification system (for now), and there are 'strict guidelines' set for running the tests...but it's still up to the manufacturer how they perform that test, and it's quite simple to slip your product up/down a grade as necessary to make your performance/expensive tyre seem much better in comparison to the cheap one (e.g. some will run the braking/handling tests at 20 degrees and others at higher & lower temps - which will have an effect on the results).

After all, would a normal buyer know what the difference between an A, B & C for noise means - as it's based around a future noise limit for external noise from the tyre - which can change by more than the difference between bandings depending on the road surface anyway.

There's more info on Michelin's website.

 

[mmm-five]

The tests are carried out, and reported by the manufacturer, so is purely subjective and only really useful for comparing tyres from the same manufacturer.

Then it's pretty useless then :thumbsdown:

It makes the consumer believe they're getting the information they need to make a decision, in an easy-to-use format.

So as useless/useful as the traffic lights used for food labelling and white goods energy efficiency labelling.

BTW, I'm currently work on a project to do with packaging, so I understand the arbitrary limits that are in place for some items.
For example where something is safe at 49% levels, but unsafe at 50% - so two instances of 49% would be classed as safe and one instance of 50% is unsafe. Or where some packaging is unsafe if a child of 59 months 31 days can open it, but safe if that child is 1 day older