v-rated tires

whats the difference between a v rated tire and its non v rated counterpart.
my 98 s70 came with v rated michelin's and when you go on michelin.com and
type in your yr, make and model it comes back with a v rated tire. i need 4
new tires and was wondering how critical is this v rating thing........

 

From a point at sea, to the circles of your mind, this is J. Rios:

The 'V' denotes a speed rating - the tyre is designed to be safe up to
a certain speed.

IIRC the ratings are:

H = up to 120 mph
V = up to 150 mph
Z = over 150 mph

There are other rating letters too, but I've never seen a tyre with
them on.

As most countries have speed limits well below any of these, and
people's driving styles may never approach these specifications, it is
easy to think that the speed ratings are meaningless. But you must
remember that the car was designed with this spec. of tyre in mind,
and there may also be insurance, warranty and annual safety test
implications if you drive a car with tyres of a lower rating than it
was designed for.



--

Stewart Hargrave

A lot faster than public transport


For email, replace 'SpamOnlyToHere' with my name

 

From a point at sea, to the circles of your mind, this is Stewart
Hargrave:

Just found this with all the answers:

http://www.goodyear.co.uk/services/guides/loadindex.html


--

Stewart Hargrave

A lot faster than public transport


For email, replace 'SpamOnlyToHere' with my name

 

Yepp - I hade to put W-rated on my car (s80 2,9) even though I most probably
will not ever reach 270km/h. Expensive but lovely tires, Goodyear Eagle F1