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Comments
Although that kind of an upgrade should be acceptable
Confirm it for yourself at the miata.net garage link posted above.
Allow an inch for tire growth and suspension flex when you take your measurements. I'd hate for you to do the "la machine" thing to new tires for going a size or two too big.
Changing from a 195/50R16 to a 205/45R16 (or even worse 40) IS A BAD IDEA!!
A 195/50R16 has a load carrying capacity of 1074# at 35 psi.
A 205/45R16 has a load carrying capacity of 908# at 35 psi. That's a 166# (20%) reduction PER TIRE.
Going smaller in load carrying capacity can lead to very bad things.
When I get back to my office and can dig up the rest of the facts, I'll fill in the rest of the story.
You can't generalize across different brands of tires. While what you say may be true for ONE brand of tires and the different sizes offered by that brand/model, you could probably find a brand with an acceptable load rating that is available in a desirable size!
Sorry, but tire load carrying capacities are standardized by size. In the US the standardizing body is The Tire and Rim Association (TRA). In Europe, it is the European Tire and Rim Technical Organization (ETRTO). There are others. They all cooperate with each other and try as best they can to prevent contradictions.
One of the reasons I wanted to get back to my desk was the difference between TRA (which uses a P in front of passenger tires built to this standard) and ETRTO (which uses no letters in front). It is very common for folks to drop the letters in front, thinking they make little difference. Trust me, the difference between a P245/75R16 and an LT245/75R16 is HUGE!!
In short, it should make no difference at all who makes a tire. The load carrying capacity will be the same for a given size.
Hope this helps.
So you can have two passanger tires with exact the same size and speed rating with different load.
Krzys
A Mazda P5 came with P195/50R16's on 6" wheels inflated to 32 front and rear. This equates to a load carrying capacity of 1036#.
A P205/45R16 has a minimum wheel width of 6 1/2". So NO, the tire will not fit on the stock wheel. BTW the maximum load carring capacity is 908 # at 35 psi - smaller.
A P205/40R16 has a minimum wheel width of 7". Again, this will not fit on the stock wheel. In this case, there are 3 different maximum load capacities. 1) LL = Load Index 75, with a max capacity of 853# at 35 psi. 2) SL = Load Index 79, with a max of 963# at 35 psi. 3) XL = Load Index 83, with a max load of 1074# at 41psi. Looks like only the Extra Load has enough load carrying capacity, if you had the proper wheel width.
Hope this helps.
"It is not the size of the tire which determines the load. Or better it is not only the size. So you can have two passanger tires with exact the same size and speed rating with different load."
There are some permutations and some other goings on, but size does determine maximum load carrying capacity.
How about an experiment? Find a tire and read the size and the maximum load. You tell me the tire size (be sure to include the P if it is there) and I will tell you the maximum load. I will read it off either an TRA load table or an ETRTO load table.
I know narrow tires are better for snow and wider tires are better for dry handling. What about for driving in the rain?
What other factors help? I would suppose summers are better than A/S in the rain.
Mind you, there is a lot more involved, and you will get some reversals if you don't compare apples to apples.
Case in point: I went from the Bridgestone RE-92 A/S to the Potenza S-03 on my Prelude, and immediately noticed better wet grip.
The RE92 comes in several different versions including a T rated Honda version with a 360 UTQG treadwear rating.
The S0-3 is at least a W speed rating with a 220 wear rating.
As I said, there is a lot involved and there will be reversals.
Bridgestone makes a tire called a R265 that I've seen on some 3/4 ton Suburbans and similar. I've heard good things about them (quiet and smooth) but they are a highway tire and would not do well off road.
Make sure you get a tire with the proper load rating (I think you need Load Rating E) in order to safely carry the camper, not to mention the truck itself.
Any one have any experience with Continental tires in general or ContiExtreme Contacts specifically?
I might have to replace the tires on my 96 RL soon. The OEM tires are Michellin MXV4s. I replaced them with Dunlop SP5000s two Decembers ago and they have been okay.
I noticed that the ContiExtreme Contacts are very cheap on TireRack.com. They are half the price of the Michellins and two-thirds the price of the Dunlops.
I'm all for getting a good deal, but I don't want to sacrifice any safety and/or performance.
Let me know if any of you have tried these Continentals.
Thanks for your help,
Peter
and
P195/65R15
Krzys
That's like asking "what color is that shade of red"?
Krzys
My point is that tire size does not automaticaly give you index, range of indexes - yes, but not index.
Krzys
Road & Track magazine did a write up of the new Continental tires in their 7/02 issue. Worth a look if you're interested.
They should last for a while.
Krzys
Currently have issue with them regarding warranty on Michelin Pilot XGT H4. Tires have only 18K miles on them. Local Sears wants documentation on them proving that the tires have been rotated. Even though writing on warranty mentions every conceivable limitation regarding driving on flat tire, balancing, alignment, but mentions rotation nowhere. In fact a different receipt from sister store NTB says receipt that the tires with the best tread should be placed on rear axel. Implies to me that tires shouldn't be rotated fron to back if one set is significantly newer than the other. Interesting how they installed new tire on the car twice but neither time did they follow industry standard and put them on the rear axel. Unfortuantely I didn't know any better as the front axel seemed to make sense. However I am not a tire professional. I'm honestly thinking of taking them to small claims court on this as I think this case is a slam dunk and am fed up with their attitude. I realize it's not worth my time, but I'm in law school so it would probably be a good experience anyways.
In addition I always have issues with measuring the tread. I think they just measure to whatever is their benefit. Last time I had a tire blow, I had to go to 3 stores to agree that the tire still had 8/32 giving me a free replacement. First 2 stores claimed 7/32 meaning I would only get 62% credit even though tires had only 8K on them. Unfortunately store measuring at 8/32 claimed it was a manufacture defect meaning I had to pay $25 for balancing and road hazard warranty. First 2 stores claimed it was road hazard warranty meaning I would have paid nothing, but they measured 7/32.
Lastly their road hazard warranty is idiotic. It's prorating is measured on treadwear rather than mileage. When I buy 50K tires I expect to get 50K out of them. Unfortunately if you only get 10K and they blow you could end up spending a lot. If the tread is half gone you only get 50% credit meaning that you paid for 25K miles but only got 10K.
I wish I could get away from buying tires at Sears, but living 1 mile from a freeway which has been under construction for the last four years has meant that no tire has ever lasted more than 30K. Hopefully with the completion of the freeway this summer road hazards will be significantly reduced.
Of course you should rotate your tires, and don't act like that's a surprise they should have told you about. Did you drive for 18K miles without rotation?? If so, then by every standard in the industry, from new car maintenance guides to word of mouth down at the local Pep Boys, you've exceeded the rotation mileage stadard by three times.
A road hazard warranty is NOT a free ride. It doesn't cover "free tires" for the rest of your vehicle's life.
I'm sorry to be so blunt, but after several years in the tire business, people wanting something for nothing gets really old.
need help.....thanks
from tire manufacturer to tire manufacturer. I stated it does not - it
is a function of size, with a few provisos.
Here goes:
P195/65R15 (TRA)
Load Index = 89
Max Load (Customary Units) = 1279 #
Max Load (SI Units) = 580 kg See note!
195/65R15 (ETRTO)
Load Index = 91
Max Load (SI Units) = 615 kg
Max Load (Customary Units) = 1356# See note!
ETRTO also lists this size with a Reinforced version (Sort of like Extra Load in TRA)
195/65R15 Rein. (ETRTO)
Load Index = 95
Max Load (SI Units) = 690 kg
Max Load Load (Customary Units) = 1521 # See note!
Note - TRA publishes the load in # only. ETRTO publishes the load in
kg only. It is common for folks to show both on the sidewall, so they
convert. Some of the conversions may result in a slightly different
value due to rounding. I take credit for only this conversion.
In Europe, they use the same sizing structure for their commercial tires
as they do for their passenger car tires, but they include a "C"
immediately after the numbers. Technically the "C" is part of the
size. In the US, they would call these tires "LT's" and put "LT" before
the numbers.
195/65R15C (ETRTO)
Load Index = 104/102
Max Load (SI Units) = 900 / 850 kg (Single / Dual)
Max Load (Customary Units) = 1984 # / 1874 # (Single / Dual) See note!
If you find something that doesn't match up to this, please let me know the size, brand name and design, and I will try to figure out what may be going on.
The only tire that I found on www.tires.com site that does not match is winter tire. It might be typo.
Krzys
I have some fairly new tires,(12K on them), and the car makes an awful noise at 40 miles and above. The dealer said the tires are cupped, and so did a NTB person. It is an Olds Intrigue with 225 60 HR16 Dunlop SP2 A2's I have rotated them at about 6K miles, and got an alignment done since, thought there was not much to align. They were within specs, but the NTB guy did some adjustment to the toe in and camber any way.
How do I determine if it is the tires making the noise or something else.
Is the only option to replace the tires and see if the noise goes away?
It's wear that isn't even and uniform.
What causes it? Mostly alignment (especially toe), bad shocks, near the limit handling manuevers, etc.
Your NTB guy was smart. Vehicle alignment specs are, IMO, too wide by a factor of 2. Toe in needs to be with in 1/32" (0.15 degrees) of nominal - This is the tolerance, not the target value.
If you have cupping, it is almost certain that the noise is the tires. To be sure, determine of the noise is coming from the front or the rear, tehn rotate the tires - the noise ought to move with the tires. If it doesn't move it's something else.
Fix?
One option is to put the worst tires on the front and let nature wear the pattern out of the tires. You may need to keep them on the front a bit longer than normal to do this.
Replacing the tires is another option.
Hope this helps
i was thinking of putting michelins ltx on my pilot..has anyone had them.. looking for feed back. is this one of the better tires to go with for my pilot..
I ran them on my 1998 Mountaineer as replacement for the Firestone Death Radials. They'll last forever. I put 50K on mine and the tires had lots of tread life left when I traded it in. They're reasonably quiet. The down side is that they don't perform well braking and cornering in snow... the worst of the 4 varieties of SUV tires I've owned over the years. Any tire is a compromise and Michelin clearly optimized for tread life and highway manners. I notice you live in NYC so that isn't all that much of a factor for you.
My understanding is that dedicated summer tires handle dry/wet better, as they can ignore snow and such, but the Pilot Sport A/S is apparently some new material/manufacturing process.
That confirms what I suspected.. that the Pilot Sport A/S is probably one of the best A/S tires out there, but a dedicated summer tire will be better.
At WalMart they sell a Michelin called the LT Select. Pretty much the same as the LTX M/S mentioned above. I've steered some friends to that tire and all have been happy with it.
I don't want to get a sporty fun tire if the Sebring just won't handle them. Maybe it's best to just stick with a soft, touring tire. But, do I HAVE to?
I live in the SF Bay Area, so inclement weather isn't an issue (just a little seasonal rain).
Thanks for your thoughts.
If you're curious why not send an email to BFG and ask?
Being in Nor Cal you'd be fine with a summer tire; no need to worry about snow traction as you mentioned.
A few good sporty/performance choices are:
Dunlop SP Sport A2
Yokohama Avid H4
Bridgestone Potenza RE950
If you want a smoother, touring tire:
Bridgestone Turanza LSH
Pirelli P6 Four Season
Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus
You want to match the tires to your driving needs and style. Any car can benefit from high performance tires so if you feel you want a more responsive tire, by all means go for it.
to their listings about their main line tires and found they compared closely. Mileage number and tread designs were almost same.
Firestone even had the treadwidth and all listed in tables for their tires.
Isn't BG Goodrich owned by Michelin now?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,