Additional indicators on your tires

Before choosing summer tires, you should ask yourself - do your tires always brake the same way? The answer is obvious - no.

At the same time, it's worth remembering that the characteristics of tires decrease with each kilometer traveled. Tire manufacturers understand their tires like no one else and perfectly understand when and how noticeably the tire loses its characteristics. That's why some manufacturers have additional markings on the tire that they are not required to indicate, but do so for the sake of their customers)

A water drop symbol. It is actively used by Nokian and Continental companies. Nokian makes the indicator intuitively understandable. A water droplet on the tread indicates that the tire can still provide handling on a flooded tread. The moment it disappears as it wears out means that there is a high likelihood of aquaplaning when entering a puddle, and operating such tires in rainy weather can be unsafe.

Continental brand tires have a similar message for the user, but it is implemented differently. Indicators in the form of additional protrusions are located in the longitudinal water drainage channels, and in order not to confuse them with the standard TWI indicators in the shoulder area, a water droplet with an indicator to the desired indicator is schematically drawn.

Please note that the indicators indicating the tire's ability to overcome flooded road sections and cope with aquaplaning are 1.6 mm above the standard indicators and are located in the 3 mm mark area. Other manufacturers do not use this designation or use it not in all models, but this does not mean that they perfectly cope with aquaplaning until the end of the service life. Think about changing tires in advance.