The tire has a puncture, cut or other damage that
can’t be repaired well because of the size or location
of the damage.
Buying New Tires
To find out what kind and size of tires you need, look at
the Tire-Loading Information label.
The tires installed on your vehicle when it was new had
a Tire Performance Criteria Specification (TPC Spec)
number on
each tire’s sidewall. When you get new tires,
get ones with that same TPC Spec number. That way
your vehicle will continue to have tires that are designed
to give proper endurance, handling, speed rating,
traction, ride and other things during normal service
on
your vehicle. If your tires have an all-season tread
design, the TPC number will be followed by an
“MS”
(for mud and snow).
If you ever replace your tires with those not having a
TPC Spec number, make sure they are the same size,
load range, speed rating and construction type (bias,
bias-belted or radial) as your original tires.
A CAUTION:
Mixing tires could cause you to lose control while
driving.
If you mix tires of different sizes or types
(radial and bias-belted tires), the vehicle may not
handle properly, and you could have a crash.
Using tires
of different sizes may also cause
damage to your vehicle. Be sure to use the same
size and type tires on
all four wheels.
It’s all right to drive with your compact spare,
though. It was developed
for use on your vehicle.
Uniform Tire Quality Grading
The following information relates to the system developed
by the United States National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, which grades tires by treadwear, traction and temperature performance.
(Th.zs applies only to
vehicles sold in the United States.) The grades are molded
on the sidewalls of most passenger car tires. The Uniform
Tire Quality Grading system does not apply to deep tread, winter-type snow tires, space-saver
or temporary use spare
tires, tires with nominal rim diameters of 10 to 12 inches
(25 to 30 cm), or to some limited-production tires.
I 6-45
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