Trying to figure out how to read all the ratings on tires. What tells you how soft or hard a tire is Also what tells you how long your tread life is? This is probably a question for the discount tire guy here on the board but any help will be appriciated
thanks

 

The treadwear rating is usually an indication of the hardness of a rubber compound and hence, and indirect way of measuring how soft a tire is. For example, a nitto drag radial has a treadwear of 100, a bridgestone potenza S02 pole position treadwear of 180, and a nitto NT555 street tire a treadwear of 300. The thing that is misleading, is the traction rating which may be an "A" for all the tires whereas we all know that the potenza will have much better handling and lateral grip than a NT555. I'm not sure on the criteria for measuring the traction though. One way to know for sure the hardness or softness of the rubber compound is to buy a tire durometer and actually check it. They can be had for fairly cheap if you are ireally interested in this.

 

http://www.buying-tires.com/tire-ratings.html

 

you can only compare between the same brand since 100 treadwear for bridgstone might be equal to 150 on Nitto or whatever.