11 - 4 4Maintenance and service
18 February 2004
Tires and wheels"Types of tiresYou should be familiar with type of tires present on
your vehicle.
The factory-fitted tires are all-season tires except for
the 17-inch tires that are optional on the Aero (those
are summer tires).
!All season tires
All season tires are designed to provide an adequate
measure of traction, handling and braking perfor-
mance in year-round driving including snowy and icy
road conditions. However all season tires do not offer
as much traction performance as winter (snow) tires in
heavy or loose snow or on icy roads.
All season tires are identified by “ALL SEASON” and/
or “M+S” (Mud & Snow) on the tire sidewall.
!Summer tires
Summer tires are high-speed capability tires best suit-
ed for highway driving under dry conditions.
Summer tires are inadequate for driving on slippery
roads such as on snow-covered or icy roads.
If you drive your vehicle on snow-covered or icy roads,
we strongly recommend the use of winter (snow) tires.
When installing winter tires, be sure to replace all four
tires.!Winter (snow) tires
Winter tires are best suited for driving on snow-cov-
ered and icy roads. However winter tires do not per-
form as well as summer tires and all season tires on
roads other than snow-covered and icy roads.
"Tire inspectionCheck on a daily basis that the tires are free from se-
rious damage, nails, and stones. At the same time,
check the tires for abnormal wear.
Contact your Saab dealer immediately if you find any
problem.NOTE!When the wheels and tires strike curbs or are
subjected to harsh treatment as when the vehicle
is driven on a rough surface, they can suffer dam-
age that cannot be seen with the naked eye. This
type of damage does not become evident until
time has passed. Try not to drive over curbs, pot-
holes or on other rough surfaces. If doing so is un-
avoidable, keep the vehicle’s speed down to a
walking pace or less, and approach the curbs as
squarely as possible. Also, make sure the tires are
not pressed against the curb when you park the
vehicle.
ProCarManuals.com
11 - 5 0Maintenance and service
26 December 2003
NOTEUnidirectional tires: Some tires have a specified
direction of rotation. A tire of this type has an ar-
row or other mark on its side wall to indicate the
direction of rotation. Install it so that the direction
of rotation is correct when the vehicle is driven
forward.!All four tires must be the same in terms of
manufacturer, brand (tread pattern), construc-
tion, degree of wear, speed symbol, load index
and size. Mixing tires of different types, sizes ordegrees of wear can result in damage to vehi-
cle’s power train. Use of different types or sizes
of tires can also dangerously reduce controlla-
bility and braking performance and can lead to
an accident.
!Use only radial tires. Do not use radial tires
together with belted bias tires and/or bias-ply
tires. Doing so can dangerously reduce control-
lability, resulting in an accident.
UGB125BA
ProCarManuals.com
