What is UTQG Rating?

When searching for tires online, you might have stumbled across the complex word" UTQG rating," causing you to feel confused about what kind of science this is. We will solve this mystery for you in this article.

What UTQG rating means

UTQG is an acronym for Uniform Tire Quality Grade, a rating standard for car tires created in 1978 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a subsidiary of the U.S Department of Transportation. This rating aims to help consumers make better decisions when purchasing tires and also helps to keep a quality check on manufacturing companies.

The 3 parameters that are measured in this evaluation are

• Treadwear
• Temperature
• Traction

Adding these three parameters generates the UTQG rating for a tire. The rating consists of a three-digit number and 2 letters, for example, 600 AB. The rating is generally assigned by performing tests in controlled environments, but it might not hold true for you because of various factors like your driving style, routine, road, and climate conditions.

An important thing to note here is that NHTSA does not carry out these tests. Every company runs its own tests or hires independent companies to do the job for them. NHTSA can check the grades anytime and can fine the manufacturing company if there are any inconsistencies.

Treadwear rating

Treadwear is the rating that gives you an idea about the durability of a tire or its life expectancy. This numerical value is accessed by comparing candidate tire against Course Monitoring Tire (CMT). To determine treadwear, vehicles equipped with candidate tires run on a 400-mile track for a total of 6,400 miles.

The Course Monitoring Tire has a standard rating of 100 and fixed endurance of 30,000 miles. To understand the concept, suppose if the tire gets a grade of 200, it has twice the endurance compared to CMT. The slower wearing might not double the mileage. A tire that receives a grade of 300 or 700 might run for 60,000 miles because of your driving habits, style, and the manufacturer's unique (or biased) grading.

All companies manufacture three variants - good, better, best - so to get the best result, compare a single manufacturer's products when purchasing. That said, the best thing that you can rely on is the mileage warranty because the company can't cheat you there.

Traction rating

Traction is a letterform rating that ranges from AA to C. It gives you a measure of the grip that the tire provides during slippery or wet conditions. During the tests, with the help of axle sensors, the tires are skidded on wet pavement to check the pure braking power.

Temperature rating

Temperature rating is also a letterform that reflects the limit of a tire's resistance to heat or high temperatures. In other words, the temperature rating tells you that how well a tire will perform at high speeds.

This might be the most critical rating of UTQG because a higher temperature wears the tire much faster. If the temperature exceeds a particular limit, the tire might fail immediately.