Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
Just curious, but the "severe weather" snowflake/mountain rating thing....where does that come from? I just bought a set of tires and since I live in CO and my 4runner is my primary "bad weather" vehicle I wanted to get a tire with the "snowflake" rating (my DD is a 2wd mini truck - TERRIBLE on snow and ice.) I ended up sticking with the tried-and-true BFG AT KO (not the K02 as they are not out yet in 265/70/17) and they do have the snowflake rating (though oddly enough, neither the BFG web site nor the Discount Tire web site indicates that they do.)
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IOW, is there some independent body out there that says that in order to bear the rating the tire has to meet certain qualifications, or is it something that each tire company "self certifies?" If the tire manufacturer had to submit their tires to an independent body that would certify them based on objective criteria, then I could see it having a lot of value but if it's a "self certification" then I'm not sure it means more than "this tire is better in snow than our other tire that doesn't bear the snowflake symbol" but not much more.
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So, does it really mean anything? I suppose if a manufacturer "self certified" a "severe weather" rating and the tire got a reputation as a poor performer in the snow, the company's reputation might suffer, so that would be an incentive for the companies to be "honest" in their ratings. But beyond that, does it really signify anything? Or is it more of a marketing ploy?
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Discuss....
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IOW, is there some independent body out there that says that in order to bear the rating the tire has to meet certain qualifications, or is it something that each tire company "self certifies?" If the tire manufacturer had to submit their tires to an independent body that would certify them based on objective criteria, then I could see it having a lot of value but if it's a "self certification" then I'm not sure it means more than "this tire is better in snow than our other tire that doesn't bear the snowflake symbol" but not much more.
.
So, does it really mean anything? I suppose if a manufacturer "self certified" a "severe weather" rating and the tire got a reputation as a poor performer in the snow, the company's reputation might suffer, so that would be an incentive for the companies to be "honest" in their ratings. But beyond that, does it really signify anything? Or is it more of a marketing ploy?
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Discuss....
