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Huh! Interesting. Thanks again for your informative responses.

The Grand Caravan specifies two different OE tires; one is P and one is not. My OE tire was a Goodyear Integrity, in size P215/70R15. Had the van been equipped with the 16" wheels, it specified Bridgestone Turanza EL42 in size 215/65R16, without the P. Some of the tires in my size...

Fascinating. Is 44 psi the "standard" maximum inflation pressure for passenger car all season tires? The reason I ask is because our Grand Caravan specifies a recommended tire pressure of 36 psi front and rear. When we bought tires for it last year, we had no problem finding tires that would...

Capri, I would like an explanation...not to question your knowledge, but to benefit from it. The max load and max pressure are printed right next to each other on many tires, which probably leads to the common perception (which I also held) that the max load DOES occur at the max pressure. But...

Thanks again CapriRacer. Your comment about the P225/60R16 size being "problematic" is intriguing to me. It's such a common size. You didn't elaborate much previous, and if you don't want to, that's fine, but you're saying that there's something, physically, about that size that makes tire...

Thanks a lot for your continuing responses. I had come to the table understanding, as you can probably tell, that the speed rating grade is/was strictly a performance assessment of the highest speed (in this case) of which the tire is capable. This is how the UTQG ratings are assessed, is that...

"No, they GAVE it an S rating, but I'll bet it will pass an H rating, and I'll even take odds on a V rating." Wow -- important distinction there! What I'm reading is that the official speed rating on a tire really isn't a good indicator of the true or real world performance capabilities of a...

Thanks everyone for your responses. The difference between an S (112) and a T (118) rating is rather small. Thinking a little further, if any given tire bears an S speed rating, does that necessarily indicate that it failed at the T speed? Or is this just an example of a tire manufacturer...

We're having a discussion related to this topic on another automotive-related bulletin board. I understand that tires are speed-rated according to their relative capability to withstand certain sustained speeds. I suppose heat and pressure build not only as the speed increases, but also as the...

Gary, the only thing I can point you to is Consumer Reports' recent (11/05) test of 18 all season passenger car tires. They ran the tires on dynamometers to determine the amount of drag each tire produced. They then grouped them in broad categories of "Excellent" (5 out of 5) to "Poor" (1 out...

I have a structural question. Yesterday I was washing our van and noticed that only on ONE of the tires (happens to be on the left front), if I press down onto the tread with my thumb (not the sidewall, but the tread area), I can hear a faint "squeak" sound. I'm pretty ignorant of tire...

tireman9, I don't believe you were speaking to me. I never claimed that the tire compound doesn't have to do with wet traction (because I believe it does). I also made no references for or against the chevron patterns. Jason

For what it's worth, I found this related article today, regarding wet road performance: http://www.mtdealer.com/t_inside.cfm?action=performancehb_det&storyID=1242

Ramon, thanks. Yes, I do agree that bad news always travels faster than good, and often times, folks search out Internet sites to vent their frustrations rather than spread good cheer. I also concede that tire reviews from the general public can be dreadfully inconsistent, given no objective...

Ramon, thanks for your comments. It's interesting that you point out the importance of getting OE fitments. I bet it's true that a lot of folks out there stick with the same tires the vehicle came with. There's also a danger there...as many of the OE tires are completely different (at least...

ccw, I don't know how Michelin rates their tires. It's all relative to other tires in their line (and not to an industry standard unfortunately), and while I'm sure it's based on SOME objective data, I believe it's pretty loose also. For example, their brand new tire (the Hydroedge), makes a...

Thanks for your input JohnJacksonville. We have about 6-7k miles on a set we just put on our Grand Caravan and they haven't even started to show any wear yet. The Pilots were great tires for my Cadillac (the large FWD car I mentioned above), but being performance tires on a large car, I...

I can see that point...that as a tire rolls through a puddle, the sipes in the tread, regardless of whether there are connecting lateral grooves or not, absorb the water and then shed it as they rotate out of the puddle and into the air. The Agility tires are plenty siped...there are actually a...

"Intuitively, it seems that the primary water path is longitudinal. That is working with the general direction of travel whereas in my mind, for the water to come out the sides, it would have to turn 90 degrees and it doesn't seem this would be very effective at high speeds." Blacksmith, I...

One thing I've noticed, and heard in amateur circles, is a larger diameter wheel with a lower profile tire usually equates to poorer acceleration and "spongier" braking, due to more rotating mass. I suppose the heavier the wheel, the more energy it takes to get it moving (and to stop it). That...