On 1st November 2012 the new EU Tyre Labelling legislation comes into force. All new car, 4x4, SUV, van and most truck tyres manufactured after 1st July 2012 will carry a new ‘tyre label’ which is similar to the energy stickers that appear on white goods. The new label will provide you with objective, reliable and comparable information about your tyre purchase. Tyres manufactured before 1st July 2012 may still carry an old style label.
The tyre label will focus on three areas of performance and will raise some very important questions when making your tyre purchase.
The EU legislation comes into force on 1st November 2012. All tyres manufactured from 1st July 2012 will carry the label. Tyres manufactured before 1st July 2012 may still carry an old style label.
Tyres make an important contribution to road safety and to the environmental impact of road transport. However, all tyres don’t offer the same performance. The regulation will enable customers to make more informed choices when buying tyres. The EU’s targeted outcome is that road safety will improve and that the environmental impact of road transport will be reduced.
The new labels will apply to all new car, 4x4, SUV, van and most truck tyres. By law, these tyres will need to carry a sticker on the tread, or be sold with a label indicating the three performance areas.
Tyres not affected by the legislation include racing tyres, professional off-road tyres, spare tyres, vintage tyres, re-treaded tyres, studded tyres and tyres whose rating is less than 80km/h.
Rolling resistance is force acting opposite to the travel direction if a tyre is rolling. Due to the vehicle load, the tyre is deformed in the contact area with the road surface.
This deformation induces internal losses, the same as a rubber ball falling down that does not rebound as high as it was launched.
As a rule of thumb, reducing rolling resistance by 6% decreases fuel consumption by 1% for passenger cars.
Other factors affect fuel consumption such as aerodynamics, vehicle weight, type of engine, auxiliary systems like air-conditioning slope of the road, personal driving style, tyre pressure level, accelerations or general traffic conditions.
Wet grip refers to the safety performance of tyres: it reflects the capacity of a tyre to brake on a wet road.
There are other parameters which are relevant for safety (e.g. road holding ability, directional control, deceleration ability on wet and dry surfaces at higher speed and aquaplaning behaviour) but wet grip was chosen as the most representative situation of reduced adherence in Europe.
The new EU legislation applies to tyres manufactured after 1st July 2012. Some tyres in stock were manufactured prior to this date, and are therefore exempt from the legislation.
This legislation comes into force on 1st November 2012, therefore some tyre manufacturers are still finalising the ratings for their tyres and have until 31st October to publish this information. As soon as this information is made available by the manufacturers, it will be added to the tyre information page.
For additional information please visit http://ec.europa.eu/energy/efficiency/tyres/labelling_en.htm.
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