posted August 18, 2000 12:26 PM           

Wear Bars should be on five (maybe 8) locations around a tire, usually showing up in the major circumferential grooves. There should be a symbol (a triangle or a little michelin man on michelin tires) at the end of the tread design in the tire shoulder where the consumer can see it to indicate where the tire bar is.

All the other bars within a tire tread pattern are typically called "tie" bars and they are there to add rigidity to traed design to combat irregular wear and other undesirable problems. Some brands also have bars, very similar to wear bars, that are at the mold segment lines and allow for the segments to come together smoothly.