burden@cheers.DEC (Dave Burden --- 381-2559) (10/27/84)
<eat it....eat it raw...> I went down to a local tire shop this morning to get some prices on snow tires for my GTI. The salesman was flipping through the price lists and I noticed that some of the tires listed were not SR rated, just plain old R. I asked him about this. He said that SR only stood for Steel Radial and that it wasn't a speed rating. Right :-). Not wanting to start a big argument I just commented that I didn't think that was right. Then I asked him what HR meant and he replied that HR tires were good for 112 mph. Again, wrong. So much for my experience with that salesman. Here's the rundown on speed ratings. No rating: really a P rating (passenger?), rated for 90 mph SR: good for 112 mph. HR: good for 130 (some say 134) VR: over 130, up to the top speed of the vehicle The GTI comes with HR tires and when I decided to get snowies I wanted to make sure they are at least SR. Even though I don't plan on driving at 90+ mph (on dry highways of course) the car IS capable of speeds greater than 90 so why risk it? So, before you purchase your snow tires at least think about the speed rating on them. If the car is capable of high speeds get tires that are designed to withstand those speeds. Dave Burden decvax!decwrl!rhea!cheers!burden 603-881-2559 DEC Nashua, NH