Quote:
Originally Posted by Z1NONLY
Ok, how then do we go about answering that question?
What's to stop Hoosier from stamping "200" on the side of their A6 and saying "there is an official test that we conducted that proves this to be 200tw.....trust us."?
If proving that two tires with the same tw rating wear at very different rates is not proof of a false tw, rating what is?
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TW testing is conducted by an independent lab/facility and establishes the maximum tw number a manufacturer can put on the tire. The manufacturer may choose to put a lower number on the tire if they choose however. This is why in the autox world lately there have been a number of tires that have gone from 180 to 200 tw. Those tires were really 200 tw (or maybe even higher) tires all along even though they were marked otherwise.
You also need to remember that while somewhat related, tw and gripiness of a tire are two different things. Currently there is no industry testing for rating the gripiness of tires.
This was all from a discussion 2 days ago I had with a tire engineer from Cooper Tire.