Tires are a very amazing and complicated product. Thank you for making it simple for everyone to understand. Being in the tire industry for 15 years; not only did you do a good job explaining, but you allowed people to understand there is a much more vast rabbit hole to explore if someone would like to have even more knowledge. E.G. tire pressure effects the setup of the vehicle while balancing the overall load. When driving higher speed this can have a huge effects or just when there are more down forces (including trucks with lots of weight).
It may also be worth mentioning that a lot of countries will issue fix it tickets for any tire over 6 years old, which is where the DOT stamp can be helpful in determining a tires age. There have been tire shops that have gotten in huge trouble for selling "new" 14 year old tires that never saw road time, only issue is that tires that old have hardened and lose traction and are more susceptible to blow outs. Think of a brand new rubber band that sat in a desk drawer for ten years, first time you stretch it out it just snaps, tires oxidize even if they arent driven on.
The effort and time into almost every consumer product is vastly more than people expect. There's many lifetimes of development and care into the most trivial of consumer goods.
Michael Ferguson I am not convinced his statement is correct, because all tires suppose to be measured or referenced to the tread wear of a standard reference test tire.
Best explanation of tire wall info I’ve ever seen. I’m 52 years old and just learned more in 11 minutes than in a lifetime of so called “experts” “explaining” things to me.
Thank you! I'm a newbie tire owner, but now I know how to 'read' tires. Associatively relevant (meaning not relevant), "object video explanations" like this are so useful! Ex. tips for buying a hookah: the width of the vase is most important, not its length; buy rubber hoses ect. Simple advise for those in want educates us as consumers. Thanks again!
@@EngineeringExplained could you possibly do another one for winter tires though? There is a big misconception that M+S automatically makes your tires into winter tires. Except that there are a lot of summer compound/thread tires with that marking. People don't understand that there needs to be a snowflake and/or a summit besides the M+S for it to be a winter tire.
Tyres actually tell a lot about the owner. Cheap tyres on couple of years old performance car means the owner probably isn't as rich as the car might suggest and cheap tires on boring car means the owner probably doens't care and doesn't know a lot about cars.
Sometimes cheap performance tires are better than higher priced tires. When I used to own a 03 tiburon gt, I bought a set of nixens ZR Y summer tires $90 a tire ($360). All the other tires that were slightly more expensive had T and H ratings. I couldn’t afford to spend $1000 for name brands like Goodyear or continental. Anyhow the cheap summer tires were great with all forms of traction. The treads crapped out around 20k. Seems like these tires were definitely made to for people to use on a track as a low budget option
Perhaps you could make a video about no of bolts, their distance, center diameter and mounting offset. And also how the height of the tire combined with different sized rims will fit or not on your car. And perhaps a word on tightening force and why it's a jolly good idea to use a copper based lubricant? It would probably be around this time of the year that the northern hemisphere starts to changing to summer tires, a refresh on how and what kind of tires you could slap on successfully is probably needed for most of us.
@@Xyleksoll English isn't my native language and I'm unfamiliar with the term "scrub radius", I'll get googling and today will be a good day as I hopefully will learn something new!
@@Xyleksoll Yes, I did learn something new today, great! I'm an electrical engineer by training, but I've taken a greater interest in mechanical things in general, mostly cars and motorcycle over the years. I've actually noticed that newer cars have wheels offset more inboard, now I know at least part of the explanation why that has changed.
@@NomenNescio99 all these factors influence the way a car handles but most people are ignorant of them. I am currently living in Texas and I can see a lot of lifted trucks with incredible offsets (wheels pushed out) that I wonder how they can actually go down the road...
A long time ago, when I took my 88 Olds to one of those Quick Lube places for an oil change, the guy was showing a new hire the ropes. As I was sitting in my car with the windows down, I overheard these instructions: "See the max PSI on the sidewall? Inflate the tires to that." I got out, set them straight and from that day learned to do my own maintenance.
That's hilarious. It took a shop 2 tries and a new set of valve covers to fix a valve cover gasket leak. The leak was minor. First try they said the valve pan was bent and they tried to fix it. I drove it home and it was pouring oil before i got 1/2 there. Some rtv would have fixed the problem but they screwed it up. So i got another set of pans, shiny chome ones from the part house. They fixed it again and i still had to go behind them and snug up the bolts about 1/4 of a turn. Never again... I've also seen our local walmart drive a car into the pit and use a fork truck to get it out. I won't sign their waiver for oil changes. Again though i do it all myself. Bought a repair manual and taught myself in the days before the internet. Best choice i ever made. The skills I've learned have not only saved me untold amounts of money but I've been known to do side jobs wrenching. Back to you comment, I've also had the same talk with relatives about putting to much air in a tire. People a crazy sometimes.
Lets not forget even dealership mechanics set the tire pressure incorrectly. I just had my wife's SUV serviced and they set the tire pressure to 41 psi... on a SUV. I checked the door panel and it says 35 psi. 🤦♂️
Also, the recommended pressure on the door frame is COLD pressure. If you set your tires to 35 psi cold, it is not abnormal for the tires to reach 40 psi when youre on the highway. Conversely. If you set your pressure to 35 psi after driving, with warm tires, the pressure will drop once they cool
@@qman61698 agreed and to expand on your comment: most DIY and small compressors deliver hot air. It is not uncommon for pressure to drop 3-5 psi the next morning when the tires are "cold".
I really love these types of videos. Could you do a video talking about VINs? That's some really geeky stuff, but does have some uses (like what country the car was made in for the first digit). I look at VINs all day for my job so I've learned a lot of that stuff over time.
What are the chances, yesterday I changed my tires and I was looking for info of course to refresh my memory and on the same day he releases a video talking about tire sidewalls. It was helpful though and appreciate the content.
This neatly packs together what I spent a couple of hours worth of googling on when I had to buy new tires.. As @Elliott Gardner said .. this should be mandatory knowledge for people that are looking for new tires.
Here's my question. Everybody talks about not buying "cheap" tires. Problem is...when I look on (for example) the Discount Tire website, even the cheapest tires they sell are rated as A for traction, A for temperature....rated for same speeds, same loads etc. Sometimes even *better* than more expensive tires! They're often rated for the same braking distances on dry *and* wet pavements too! I'm so confused. Why not get a Westlake instead of Michelin if they're "rated" the same? (I know Westlake is from China and some Chinese tires may not have the same quality control, so I don't lean that way, but GT Radial? Sentury?) Thoughts? Thanks all...cheers!
One of the first things I would say to my students when I was teaching our calc-based physics sequence for engineering and physical science majors was to not mix units. I would recommend that they convert all data to S.I. units do the calculations to get answers in S.I. and then convert at the end if they needed a result in another system of units. Mixing units is a prescription for disaster.
I am consistently amazed by the number of people I speak to who fill their tires to the "max pressure" or near the max pressure and who consistently wear out the middle of the tire.
should have explained also the red/yellow dot, red being the heaviest part of the tire, yellow being the lightest thus yellow marking should be aligned to the heaviest part of the rim -- the part with tire valve. if there is only red dot, then it should be at the opposite side aligned with the tire valve.
I dont know exactly why, but not all tires have that, the colored dots or markings its just for easier balancing of tires,. even all the details discussed by jason here, some of them are missing for some tires
1) In your example the date of manufacture was 3118 or the 31st week of year 2018. Given that rubber loses its properties over time even its kept on a shelf and exposed to ambient temperature and pressure how long does the tire maintain its safe or usable life? When do you need to change it even if it has adequate tread depth? 2) Is there a durometer rating indicating how soft the rubber is? For example a winter tire is made of a softer rubber to increase its friction on ice and snow.
today while in Spanish class i learned to improve my tires reading skills so next time i know what size, radius, diameter, and what type of tires i want next time thank you also E
You missed the E2 finishing by S2WR2 marking and so on next to the DOT. It is actually for Europeans the information about how the tire perform according to the R117 of Geneva text. So it is an information about wet handling, dry handling and noise test.
Figure out what your car require, then google what that mean in "tire lanuage". Sizes are limited by the rim and your car. Most cars have a very limited range of tire it can use, depending on rim size. Load and speed are just upper limits on the tire, you want as low as possible above what your car is capable of (dont need a truck tire load and 186mhp on a prius)
Hey Jason, I have a video suggestion. Front air ducts, the ones leading air around the tires, which many new cars have. It would be great if you take a look on how they are effecting aerodynamics and therefore a cars fuel economy and efficiency at different speeds. Keep up your good work ^_^
4:46 In case of Michelin it is not an aesthetic choice to put Z on the tire. If Michelin has only Y letter it means it is suitable for speeds up to 300 km/h, if it has both ZR and Y it can take over 300 km/h (not specified how much exactly). For other manufacturers it could be different.
any tire can go faster than it's designation, the designation only states up to which speed the manufacturer guarantees it's perfomrance to be as intended.
I had no idea that something as simple as a car tire had so many aspects associated with it. Thankyou for giving us a detailed description of all these things. Love your videos and hope your channel grow leaps and bounds.
I've got one question that I guessed somebody would've already asked: Can/Should I ('properly') glue ('properly') some of that foam to any other tire so it makes less rolling noise? Would that be safe? Thank you, and keep up the good vids!
One thing worth noting RE: max tire load... the maximum rated load is measured at the maximum rated pressure, NOT at the auto manufacturer’s recommended inflation pressure.
I was exp0ecting a discourse about the quality and ride caracteristics of the sidewalls of the tires, on bicycles the sidewalls are very important for rolling resistance.
In F1 (and other racing series with multiple tire options), there is always an inverse correlation between tire traction/grip and durability/wear; eg compound A might have a 10% higher coefficient of friction than compound B, but compound B will last 10% more laps than tire A. Is this the case with road tires? Can I buy tires that offer both better grip and durability than discount tires, or is there an inherent tradeoff between grip and durability? TL;DR Is the grip vs wear tradeoff in racing tires a natural or artificial feature?
Remember, that is about wet braking. Not an actual grip compound. You can have a hard truck tire wet brake better than a slick sticky tire because of Tread.
Yes, there are large differences in consumer road tires. In racing, you only have a few variations and cost is not a primary driver in variation like it is with consumer tires. Also note that there are effectively "generations" of tires. The average tire is improving slowly but steadily with each new model released. In general, in the same class of tire, you are making tradeoffs of dry grip, wet grip, cornering, tread life, NVH (noise, vibration, harshness), comfort, energy loss (fuel economy), and price.
@@kodiak2fitty I totally agree, but the "Traction" rating on DOT tires only rates wet braking on even pavement. That is it. Nothing else. It is a federal law. Yes, you can get more technical data from the manufacturer of the tire.
I'm 67 and have owned plenty cars, trucks-- the only thing that I was interested in a tire was the price and the tire pressure-- going to check out the tires on my C10 now --
Question 4 EE ... This pertains to brake ware, is it better to brake steady and gradual OR to brake all at once. Say going downhill to a stop sign. What wares the brake pad more? / Not mention warping the rotors.
Why is it a joke? The tire compounds and construction are often tweaked specifically to meet the OEM's requirements. OEMs start from an existing design, multiple versions and iterations (aka submissions) are created and tested by the OEM to check attribute performance before settling on a final tire submission. For example the OEM could be looking for lower noise/vibration/harshness (NVH), lower rolling resistance, changes in dry/wet handling. The tire interaction with the other suspension components on a vehicle is quite complicated. Even the recommended tire pressure placard is determined by a mix of regulation requirements and attribute trade-offs. Going to the OEM dealer to buy replacement tires is the way to get the version the engineers designed. Going to Tire Rack or a local garage is a crap shoot and most places won't match DOT codes; i.e. you could have a mix of Tesla and Chrysler spec'd tires in a set of 4. Source: I'm involved in OEM testing of tires. Nothing against Tire Rack. I bought my winter tires from them.
I remember the Acura NSX came with vehicle specific tires on the rear with incredibly short tread life. About that time Lexus LS400’s were also fitted with unique tires.
Could you verify that tread wear rating is "in house?" Because I've taken tests all about tires and it is actually DOT regulated, on a specific and regulated track, with a specific car. It is supposed to be a universal number just like tire size. Any clarification would help! But good video explaining how to read everything.
Always get your tyres balanced AND never let a tyre shop gun your wheels back on. Hand-held impact drivers can be and usually are set to high. Even if the fitter looks up the correct torque they are not precision tested tools like a torque wrench. Bottom line it can cost £80 per nut Or £300 for all for locknuts.
Good Question .. I believe 5 years is the general rule . after that the tires start to harden up and you loose traction as well as they may start to crack . stored or not . they will look good stored but when you put them on they will start cracking . old tires are not worth putting on...unless you put them on the rear of a rear wheel drive and do some donuts...lol ...but don't put on the front...
Can you do a video on how you select your tires? I look at tire rack and the ratings are ok, but it's tricky to pick with so many options. I usually just go for a michalin tire because I know at least it wont be loud. It will stop reasonably fast. And be mostly made for all season road. How do I pick a sweet tire?
