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Rubber dub

Thanks to a friend who worked at Toyo, I have just acquired a set of their tyres for 12-year old Porsche 911/993. My local tyre dealer (a specialist - and very good) fitted them and did the tracking on the front wheels, but pointed out that they were 'Y' rated and should be 'N' rated. I gather there is also a triple 'A' rating. Having been a bit of a petrolhead all my life I thought I was familiar with the old speed ratings, but am totally confused by the above. Would it be of interest to sufficient of your readers if you were kind enough to enlighten them on this subject? I believe that the above are LOAD ratings as against speed ratings; it may of course be possible that my local specialist, to whom I have been a loyal customer for over 25 years, was annoyed at not supplying the tyres (he also sells Toyo amongst many others).

Asked on 17 January 2009 by

Answered by Honest John
The Bridgestone book says: "Load indices may be found on ZR speed rated tyres where they defined as reinforced or extra load tyres e.g. 195/50ZR15 86W XL or where the tyre is capable of speeds over 300km/h where the service description will be shown in brackets e.g. 345/35ZR19 (110Y)."
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