{"id":415472,"date":"2026-07-28T18:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T18:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/415472\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T18:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T18:20:12","slug":"californias-proposed-tire-efficiency-program-carving-out-niche-exemptions-for-enthusiasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/415472\/","title":{"rendered":"California’s Proposed Tire Efficiency Program Carving Out Niche Exemptions for Enthusiasts"},"content":{"rendered":"

California\u2019s Proposed Replacement Tire Efficiency Program, a new set of regulations aiming to make tires more efficient, is still (as the name would imply) just a proposal being worked on by the California Energy Commission, or CEC. However, said proposal is currently undergoing edits after the government received feedback from tire companies and the automotive community, and the changes sound promising for enthusiasts.<\/p>\n

You can read all about the original proposal at our deep dive here<\/a>, but in summary, this legislation exists to try and make sure the tires that folks replace their original equipment ones with are just as or more efficient efficient than the rubber that came on the car to begin with. The hope is to increase fuel economy, ultimately reducing the amount of money folks spend on fuel and reducing emissions. The rigid rules initially proposed left very little daylight for specialty tires, though. For example, the fate of dedicated competition tires was mighty unclear.<\/p>\n

On Monday, however, the CEC reached out to Road & Track to let us know it\u2019s making changes to the proposal. Specifically, the commission said these changes address the concerns of \u201cautomotive enthusiasts and the tire industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2025<\/p>\n

Andi Hedrick<\/p>\n

The big one outlined to R&T by CEC information officer Harrison Reilly is an exemption to the rule for competition tires. These would be your typical track day rubber, like a Bridgestone Potenza RE-71RS or Falken Azenis RT660. The CEC exemption applies to tires \u201cdesigned for motorsports usage and intended by manufacturers to be fitted to vehicles involved in motorsport competition.\u201d To qualify, the treadwear (UTQG) rating can\u2019t be any higher than 200; it has to have a tread depth of 8\/32 or less; and bear a speed rating of W or Y. Assuming said tire meets this criteria, it wouldn\u2019t be subject to the same efficiency requirements as every other replacement tire.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll note that there are plenty of competition tires with a UTQG rating slightly above 200 that could still be in danger here. For example, the Goodyear Eagle Supercar 3 has a 220 treadwear rating, and the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 has a 240 treadwear rating. These are perfectly valid tires for a track day, but we\u2019re not sure if they\u2019d be legal in California, given the new criteria.<\/p>\n

\"2025<\/p>\n

Toyota<\/p>\n

A similar list exists for large off-road tires. The new CEC proposal says that a \u201c\u2018large off-road tire\u2019 means a tire with a speed rating of up to and including Q, one not to exceed 99 miles per hour, and with a minimum diameter of 34.5 inches or more as measured as the longest distance between two outside edges of the tire on the same side.\u201d Just like the competition tires, this strict definition is potentially limiting; while 35-inch and larger off-road tires are popular these days, so are slightly smaller 33-inch all-terrain ones.<\/p>\n

Another notable new exemption is for all-season winter performance tires, specifically those with the Three Peak Mountain Snowflake symbol on them. The CEC believes its requirements would\u2019ve unknowingly eliminated these tires from the market, so a small hole is being carved out for them. The last exemption, meanwhile, has to do with small wheel tires<\/a>. Initially, the CEC proposed making all tires for 12-inch rums or smaller exempt, but it bumped this standard up to 13-inch wheels with the latest regulation.<\/p>\n

\"LandDavid Brown Automotive<\/p>\n

This Mini is breathing a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n

Other big changes concern how tires will be categorized. Previously, the CEC said it would exempt tires with \u201clong-life\u201d and \u201cultra-long life.\u201d To do so, the tires needed to reach an exceedingly high UTQG rating to qualify, but the new regulations lowered the UTQG test scores necessary to hit to earn such an exemption. In addition to these types of tires, the latest proposal relaxes efficiency targets for run-flat tires.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the edits to the proposal move the \u201cPhase 1\u201d implementation back by a whole year, which would make January 1, 2029 the kickoff date. The more stringent \u201cPhase 2\u201d standards are moved back by two years, punting the ball all the way back to 2033.<\/p>\n

On top of these changes, the CEC says it\u2019s reopening an avenue for public comment; You\u2019ll be able to submit written comments until August 3 via its website. (Road & Track has reached out to the CEC with additional questions concerning these changes, and will update this story if we hear back.)<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

A Michigan-born car nut and racing enthusiast, Zac Palmer is talking about or thinking about cars somewhere. He bought his first when he was still 15, a 2001 Acura Integra GS-R that still resides in the garage today. It’s now joined by a 2004 Porsche Boxster S, and there will be even less practical additions to follow. Palmer worked at both Autoweek and Autoblog before joining R&T.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California\u2019s Proposed Replacement Tire Efficiency Program, a new set of regulations aiming to make tires more efficient, is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,47544,166263,9569,124165,9568,166262,154351],"class_list":["post-415472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-1f633c7d-23a1-41be-8773-44938c23c8d6","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-us","tag-shorttitle-california-tire-regs-exempting-some-track-tires","tag-sponsored-false"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}