Thank you Ari, I was hoping someone more motivated than myself would post
some details.

And, Paul, I live in Florida.  On I-75 you will find drivers doing autobahn
speeds rather frequently, and some of these vehicles easily weigh two tons,
even more reason to get a good speed rated tire.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
> Of Ari Ollikainen
> Sent: Friday, April 16, 1999 11:35 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Speed Rating EXPLAINED
>
>
> >Pat Dooley wrote:
> >> If your tires are "H" rated, it doesn't stand for highway.
> >> I see people driving 45-145 mph on the highway.  Doesn't
> really narrow it
> >> down.
> >> "H" is a speed rating, as is Z,T and many others.
> >
> >Actually the H rating is something like 85 m.p.h. (hence my "highway").
> >I was gonna get the "Z" rated tires because I will probably travel at
> >sustained speeds over 120 m.p.h. in my two ton loaf, but only
> through school
> >zones and in town.
> >I would therefore assume "Z" is for zero because how many people drive at
> >sustained speeds over 120 m.p.h. anyways?
> >[You live somewhere where vehicles travel at 145 m.p.h. on the highway
> >routinely? Must be the fabled German Autobahn? Funny, the stoic
> Germans have
> >the greatest incidence of overtaking collision in the World; where death,
> >dismemberment and serious injury occur routinely. A little too
> much faith in
> >the flashing of their Bosch headlamps?]
>
>         <gmph> Almost lost my mouthful of latte...
>
>         It must be Friday since the misinformation is especially dense...
>         OR you forgot to append an (F) or smiley to your post.
>
>         Soooo...in an effort to cut through the fog of fuzziness, I give
>         you the following factual explanation of the Speed Rating
> system as
>         found at: http://www.internets.com/tirenets/glossary.htm
>
> SPEED RATING:  A system designed to establish and label the high-speed
>                 capability of a tire based on a letter designation
>                 identifying the tire's high speed durability on an indoor
>                 test wheel. This is not the same as a speed rating for a
>                 vehicle. TireNets recommends Speed Ratings at or above the
>                 Original Equipment for your vehicle.
>
>         Letter Speed
>
>         Q      99 mph
>         R     106 mph
>         S     112 mph
>         T     118 mph
>         U     124 mph
>         H     130 mph
>         V     149 mph
>         W     168 mph
>         Y     186 mph
>         Z     greater than 186 mph
>
>        For tires having a maximum speed capability above 149 MPH,
> a "Z" may
>        appear in the size designation. For tires having a maximum speed
>        capability above 186 MPH, a "Z" must appear in the size
> designation.
>
>
>       OLTECO                    Ari Ollikainen
>       P.O. BOX 3688             Networking Architecture and Technology
>       Stanford, CA              Ari@OLTECO.com
>       94309-3688                415.517.3519
>