Sidewall Tyre Types Design Construction Tyre pressure Speed ratings Load index ratings Asimetrical tyres Metric sizes Tyre safety Hydroplaning Tyre Law Tyres and MOT Wheel balancing Wheel alignment Tyre rotation Retreads Run flat tyres Dunlop DSST Goodyear EMT Pirelli Eufori@ Michelin ZP Michelin PAX Battery

Speed ratings

The speed rating of your tyre can be found on the on the outside of the sidewall. It’s shown as a letter after your size in the picture. In this case it’s a V rated tyre this indicates the speed rating. We recommend that you fit the correct speed rated tyre as recommended by the manufacturer of the vehicle.

Be aware of insurance companies as they do get fussy when it comes to the speed rating issue, even though manufacturers recommend a higher rated tyres something like a W rated which is limited to 168 mph and if your car is fitted with a H rated tyres the insurers would not allow you. Even though the H is limited at 130 mph and the national speed limit is 70 mph.

Taking everything into consideration manufacturers normally see what the maximum speed a car can do and then recommend the highest rated. As they are unaware what each user of the car intends to do, he might be a car enthusiast who visits race tracks on weekends.

The speed rating itself is the maximum speed a tyre can travel, for example, the V rated indicates that this tyre can travel up to 149 mph. The table below shows what each letter is rated at.