I am looking to replace the tyres on my Civic (non hybrid) soon and have found a good EU resource listing rolling resistance, mass and noise data, however I am not sure how many of these tyres can be sourced in the US for those interested.


Most of these tyres come in a variety of speed ratings, (all of which are usually way over the national speed limit BTW).


Does anyone know about how speed ratings effect characteristics in terms of weight/RR, i.e. is a tyre with a lower speed rating likely to be lighter or a higher rating stiffer, therefore with lower RR etc that would be advantageous to my selection?

Sorry Rob not to answer your question yet, but I have a question for you (or the rest of the gang) regarding the ratings. Thanks for posting them, BTW.

If I am reading those ratings correctly, the rolling resistance of the skinny-ish Michelin Energy 175/70R13 is higher (worse) than the wider Michelin Energy 195/65R15. So one conclusion would be that getting a slightly wider, lower profile tire (tyre :-) ) does not impact rolling resistance (in this case, it was even better).

Is that a valid conclusion, or am I reading the table incorrectly?

(Also, braking and aquaplaning seemed to be better in the wider tyre as well.)

Do you know I never even noticed that.
I was considering going down from a 195 to a 185 width until I read this - about 2/3 rds down the page (check out the 'Tweel' and Tyre Size Calculator on the way) claiming that the contact patch would remain relatively similar - however I would have expected minor advantages through less weight/rotating mass.

My only conclusion about the Energy's is that the tyres are slightly different models (XT1, XH1), maybe the T & H refer to speed ratings!? They come rated T or H, so you may have inadvertently answered my question .

I have been trawling the web and so far have found two differing opinions concerning speed ratings - one that higher rated tyres are softer and have higher RR, and one that they are stiffer and therefore have lower RR. Probably not enough in it to make that much difference either way once they are pumped up beyond recommended PSI. Maybe.

Hi Stoner:

___Thanks for the link and it is in my Favorite’s List now.

___All Michelin Energy’s are supposedly LRR here in the states but I do not know about the various speed ratings. Actually I would not care because the lowest speed rating is 85 miles per hour here and I will never touch that speed. We should never say never I guess

___Good Luck.

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net