EU New Tire Labels Explained

A tire's exterior noise grading is expressed in decibels, accompanied by one, two or three sound waves for the European Commission label. One black wave indicates the best noise level performance. It means that the noise output level of the tire is at least 3dB below the future legal limit. Three black waves indicate the weakest performance in terms of tire noise output. It represents a noise output level between the current maximum and the new lower limit that will be introduced in Regulation 661, coming into force between 2012 and 2016.