2005 KIA CERATO Owners Manual

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✽✽NOTICE

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TYRES AND WHEELS
Tyres care
For proper maintenance, safety, and
maximum fuel economy, you must
always maintain recommended tyre
inflation pressures and stay within
the load limits and weight distribution
recommended for your vehicle. Inflation pressures All tyre pressures (including the
spare) should be checked every day
when the tyres are cold. “Cold Tyres”
means the vehicle has not been driv-
en for at least three hours or drivenless than 1.6 km (one mile).
Recommended pressures must be
maintained for the best ride, top vehi-
cle handling, and minimum tyre
wear. All specifications (sizes and pres-
sures) can be found on a label
attached to the front driver’s door sill.
✽✽
NOTICE

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Disc brake pads and rear brake
shoes should be inspected for wearwhenever tyres are rotated.
✽✽ NOTICE
Rotate radial tyres that have an
asymmetric tread pattern only from
front to rear and not from right toleft.
Tyre replacement
If the tyre is worn evenly, a tread
wear indicator will appear as a solid
band across the tread. This showsthere is less than 1.6 mm (1/16 inch)
of tread left on the tyre. Replace the
tyre when this happens.
Do not wait for the band to appear
across the entire tread before replac-
ing the tyre. Wheel alignment and tyre balance
The wheels on your vehicle were aligned and balanced carefully at the
factory to give you the longest tyre
life and best overall performance.
In most cases, you will not need to
have your wheels aligned again.
However, if you notice unusual tyre
wear or your vehicle pulling one way
or the other, the alignment may needto be reset.
If you notice your vehicle vibrating
when driving on a smooth road, your
wheels may need to be rebalanced.
✽✽
NOTICE
Improper wheel weights can dam-
age your vehicle's aluminum wheels.
Use only approved wheel weights.
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Tread wear indicator

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Wheel replacement
When replacing the metal wheels for
any reason, make sure the new
wheels are equivalent to the original
factory units in diameter, rim widthand offset.WARNING
When replacing tyres, never mix radial, bias-belted, and
bias-type tyres. All four tyres
should be of the same size,
design and construction. Use
only the tyre sizes listed on
the Tyre Label found below the
door striker on the driver’s
side. Make sure that all tyres
and wheels are the same size
and have the same load-carry-
ing capacity. Use only tyre andwheel combinations recom-
mended on the Tyre Label or
by an Authorized Kia Dealer.
Failure to follow these precau-
tions can adversely affect the
safety and handling of your
vehicle.
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The use of any other tyre sizeor type may seriously affect
ride, handling, ground clear-
ance, tyre clearance, andspeedometer calibration.
Driving on worn-out tyres is very hazardous and will
reduce braking effectiveness,
steering accuracy, and trac-tion.
It is best to replace all four tyres at the same time. If that
is not possible, or necessary,
then replace the two front or
two rear tyres as a pair.Replacing just one tyre can
seriously affect your vehicle’shandling.
WARNING
A wheel that is not the correct
size may adversely affect wheel
and bearing life, braking and
stopping abilities, handling
characteristics, ground clear-
ance, body-to-tyre clearance,
snow chain clearance,
speedometer calibration, head-
light aim and bumper height.

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Tyre size designation
A tyre’s sidewall is marked with a tyre
size designation. You will need this
information when selecting replace-
ment tyres for your car. The following
explains what the letters and num-
bers in the tyre size designationmean.
Example tyre size designation: 195/60 R15 88H
(These numbers are provided as an
example only; your tyre size designa-
tor could vary depending on your
vehicle.) 195 - Tyre width in millimeters.
60 - Aspect ratio. The tyre’s section
height as a percentage of its width.
R - Tyre construction code (Radial).
15 - Rim diameter in inches.
88 - Load Index, a numerical code associated with the maximum
load the tyre can carry.
H - Speed Rating Symbol. See the speed rating chart in this section
for additional information.
Wheel size designation
Wheels are also marked with impor-
tant information that you need if you
ever have to replace one. The follow-
ing explains what the letters and
numbers in the wheel size designa-tion mean. Example wheel size designation: 6.0 J x 15
6.0 - Rim width in inches. J - Rim contour designation.
15 - Rim diameter in inches.
Tyre speed ratings
The chart below shows many of the
different speed ratings currently
being used for passenger car. The
speed rating symbol is part of the
tyre size designation on the sidewall
of the tyre. This symbol corresponds
to that tyre's designed maximum
safe operating speed.
S 180 km/h (112 mph)
T 190 km/h (118 mph)
H 210 km/h (130 mph) V 240 km/h (149 mph)
Z Above 240 km/h (149 mph)
Maximum Speed
Speed
Rating
Symbol
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Uniform tyre quality grading
Tread wear
The tread wear grade is a compara-
tive rating based on the wear rate ofthe tyre when tested under controlled
conditions on a specified govern-
ment test course. For example, a tyre
graded 150 would wear one-and-a-
half times as well on the government
course as a tyre graded 100.The relative performance of tyresdepends upon the actual conditions
of their use. However, performance
may differ from the norm because of
variations in driving habits, service
practices and differences in road
characteristics and climate.
These grades are molded on the
side-walls of passenger vehicle
tyres. The tyres available as standard
or optional equipment on Kia vehi-
cles may vary with respect to grade.
Traction - A, B & C
The traction grades, from highest to
lowest, are A, B and C. The gradesrepresent the tyres ability to stop on
wet pavement as measured undercontrolled conditions on specified
government test surfaces of asphalt
and concrete. A tyre marked C may
have poor traction performance.
Temperature -A, B & C
The temperature grades are A (the
highest), B and C. The grades repre-
sent the tyre’s resistance to the gen-
eration of heat and its ability to dissi-pate heat when tested under con-trolled conditions on a specified
indoor laboratory test wheel.
Sustained high temperature can
cause the material of the tyres to
degenerate and reduce tyres life,
and excessive temperature can lead
to sudden tyres failure. Grades A and
B represent higher levels of perform-
ance on the laboratory test wheel
than the minimum required by the
law.
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Checking a tyre life
Tyre strength and performance
decline with age. Any tyres that are
over 6 year old, including the spare
(determined by the tyre manufacturedate), should be replaced regardless
of mileage. You can find the tyre
manufacture date on the tyre side-
wall (either on the inside or outside of
the wheel). The date is a
Department Of Transportation (DOT)
number consisting of letters and
numbers. You can determine the tyre
manufacture date by the last four
numbers of the DOT code. DOT : XXXX XXXX OOOO
The first letters/numbers of the DOT
indicate the manufacturing plant, tyre
size and tread pattern, last four num-
bers indicate week and year manu-
factured.
For example:
DOT XXXX XXXX 0803 represents
that the tyre was produced in the 8th
week of 2003.
WARNING
A tyre more than 6 years old
may cause separation of the
cord layers inside the tyre lead-
ing to loss of vehicle or a seri-
ous injury. Therefore, make sure
to check the manufacturing dateand replace the old tyre in 6
years after the tyre manufactur-
ing date.
WARNING - Tyre
temperature
The temperature grade for this
tyre is established for a tyre that
is properly inflated and not
overloaded. Excessive speed,
underinflation, or excessive
loading, either separately or in
combination, can cause heat
build-up and possible sudden
tyres failure. This can cause
loss of vehicle control and seri-
ous injury or death.
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