Tires
Tires

What Are Original Equipment Tire Designations?

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Since tires play such an important role in establishing the personality of a vehicle, numerous vehicle manufacturers require their tire suppliers identify some or all of their Original Equipment (OE) tires with symbols or codes branded on the sidewalls that confirm the tire's original use. Some symbols are not mutually exclusive, and multiple designations may appear on a single tire.

The vehicle and tire manufacturer's goal is to make it easier for the owners to identify and select exact replacements when the Original Equipment tires wear out because matching the original tires exactly helps maintain the vehicle's intended personality.

Unfortunately many vehicles wear out tires in pairs (rather than sets of four) due to a lack of maintenance or when equivalent tread wear can't be achieved through periodic tire rotation. While it can't make up for performance differences due to tread depth, it is most important to match new tires to those originally used on the vehicle when replacing tires in pairs.

The following list provides the symbols or codes currently in use:

Make Vehicle Symbols/Codes
Alfa Romeo Some Vehicles AR, ARR
Alpina Some Vehicles ALP
Aston Martin Some Vehicles A2A, A4A, A5A, A6A, A6B, A7A, A8A, A8B
AM2, AM4, AM8, AM9
AML, AMP, AMR, AMS, AMV, AMX
Audi Some Vehicles A, AO, AO+. AO1
AOE, AOE1 (Extended Run Flat)
RE0 (Extended Mobility)
RO, RO1, RO2
+
Bentley Some Vehicles "B" in a circle
B, B1
BC, BH, BL
BMW Some Vehicles 5-Pointed Star Symbol*
*1, *11
I*
Chrysler Some Dodge Vipers C1
Dallara Some Vehicles ME2
Ferrari Some Vehicles F, F01, F02, F03, F04
K1, K2, K3
Ford Some Mustangs FP
General Motors All Vehicles TPC SPEC (Tire Performance Criteria Specification)
TPC SPEC 1156 M+S (All Season Tires)
TPC SPEC 1156 (Non All Season Tires)
Genesis Some Vehicles GOE
Honda Acura NSX H0, H1
Hyundai Some Vehicles GOE
H, HN
Jaguar Some Vehicles "J" in a circle
J, JRS
Jeep Some Vehicles JP
Karma Some Vehicles KRM
Lamborghini Some Vehicles L, L1
Land Rover Some Vehicles JLR
LR, LR1, LR2, LR3, LR4, LR5
Lotus Some Vehicles LS, LTS, LTS2
Lucid Motors Some Vehicles LM1, LM2
Maserati Some Vehicles MGT, MGT1, MGT2
McLaren All Vehicles MC, MC-C
MC1, MC2
Mercedes Some Vehicles MO
MO1, MO1A, MO1B
MO2
MOE (Reduced-Range Extended Mobility Tire)
MOE-S
MO-P
Some SUVs MO-S
Some Vans MO-V
Mini Some Vehicles 5-Pointed Star Symbol
Pagani Some Vehicles HP
Polestar Some Vehicles POL
Porsche Some Vehicles N0, N1, N2, etc.
911 NA0, NA1, NA2, etc.
Boxster/Cayman NB0, NB1, NB2, etc.
Cayenne NC0, NC1, NC2, etc.
Panamera ND0, ND1, ND2, etc.
Macan NE0, NE1, NE2, etc.
Taycan NF0, NF1, NF2, etc.
Rivian Some Vehicles RIV
Tesla Some Vehicles T0, T1, T2, TS0
Volkswagen Some Vehicles A
VO
+
Volvo Some Vehicles VOL

The numerical escalation of Porsche N-Spec tires reflect either enhancements to the previous generation of the same tire model, or a change in the design specifications of a tire model used on a current Porsche vehicle to better complement the needs of a new Porsche vehicle.

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