TYRE RATINGS CLARIFIED • A REPORT was ,published in The Commercial Motor
Page 48
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of January 15 stating that Michelin had modified the load 'rating of the D.20 type X tyre to allow it to be used in the UK on the front axles of plated vehicles (to the new regulations) with a front-axle load of six tons. The Michelin Tyre Co. has now issued fuller details of tyre ratings for its range of commercial vehicle radial-steel-cord tyres.
It is understood that the SMMT is shortly to issue revised tyre data sheets. which have been modified specifically to give the 10.00-20, 16-ply-rating tyre a capacity of three tons when used in single formation. This is being done to allow this size to be used on the front axles of four-wheelers plated for 16 tons and therefore having a six-ton frontaxle loading.
The accompanying tables show the new ratings for Michelin radial tyres and the load capacity of comparable Firestone cross-bias (conventional) and radial tyres, these latter being to the proposed SMMT recommendations. It is stressed by Michelin that its ratings apply only to vehicles plated for specific axle loadings, the company reasoning that such vehicles are unlikely to be overloaded. It is also pointed out that they apply to vehicles operating under "average conditions of use ".