@PvtPublic … I agree 100%. He was also a kind of shady individual who wouldn’t tell me where he bought the tires in the first place. He also talked way too much. That’s a big red flag right there.
FooD13, the O.P., started this thread yesterday, Sunday… when car dealerships are normally closed… Now, at 8:45 am Monday he reports all his tire problems have been solved by the dealership and he is a happy camper…Wow, that’s some kind of record for dealer service…
@f00dl3, I think you should tell your friends and neighbors this story. It is a good advertisement for the dealer. They deserve good press when they do something right. You learn a lot about people when there is a problem. In this case you learned that this dealer will admit their mistakes and make you whole.
I guess that load ratings matter if the rating is too low for your car. I called Captain Obvious for that one. I heard another good one on Undercover Boss when wrong info is given out: “That came directly from corporate.”
I am both pleased and surprised by what the dealer did. Good for him - and he deserves the continued business.
Yes, pleased and surprised. That’s way beyond what most dealers would have done I believe.
This tire rating issue reminded me of a recent effort to replace a tire on my newest bike. I have a 29" (?) bike with tires marked as size 700X50 which would logically be millimeters and with my red neck logic I concluded that the tires were 28x2. When searching for a new tire at a nearby bike shop the manager insisted that I should not try to “guess” at what the bike needed but instead get the correct tire size and if the tire was a metric 700 it must be replaced with a metric 700. He had a 700 but not the 700x50 but offered a 700x38 which I bought and while installing noticed that the size 28x1.5 was at the bead in small print. So much of what we are sold is a “pig in a poke.” The “poke” these days is the mystifyingly ridiculous labeling which is, for the most part, an effort to give the “professionals” who sell the product the upper hand and allow them to sell you what they have in stock.
For any given passenger car tire size what range, in pounds, is available?
Lots of bike tire sizing info here.
Somewhere on those tires should be the ISO sizes: 50-622 & 38-622.
Thanks @circuitsmith. A chart on your link was truthful in saying that the 29" tire is a marketing ploy to differentiate the 700c(?), a 28" mountain bike tire from the much narrower 28" road bike tires. Picking the correct tire size is like choosing a pass word that meets all the prerequisites of a website.
You really lucked out. Those new tires you got for free wouldn’t have prevented your tire woes- they aren’t any more resistant to nails, sidewall slices, etc. than the substandard ones they put on originally, so you would have wrecked them on your own dime (unless you also got a road hazard warranty with the new ones).
Rod Knox,
Embedded in the tire size is more than just dimensions. For example a 7.00-15 means that the aspect ratio is 88% - AND - there is a particular load vs inflation table that covers that particular size.
There are situations where there are equivalents between different sizing systems.
Oh and did you know that a 205/65R15 isn’t supposed to be 205 mm wide? It’s supposed to 208 mm wide - a little known fact.
So, yes, it’s a bit more complex than it appears on the surface.
And to answer your question about load carrying capacities in tires - start here:
http://www.barrystiretech.com/tirestandardizingorgs.html
And for those interested in old tire sizing:
That’s a great link, @C-R. Table P-1 seems to indicate that there are no load index rating variables at a specific size tire. If a tire size is specified there are no load index choices. That would indicate a change in the load index could only result from a change in size.
As nice as the dealership was given they made this error to begin with and they kept on over and over and over again 5 times making this mistake kind of turns me off to them. Yes - I didn’t have to pay a dime out of pocket directly related to the tires, but it has caused many the tear from the wife as we had to come back home 1 day into our 2 year anniversary vacation because we didn’t trust the car, and next vaction we are doing a rental because she doesn’t trust my car. We literally can’t drive it more than 200 miles at a time without getting a flat.
I disagree that I would have gotten a flat regardless. The 3 inch gash I received during the trip this last weekend appears to have been caused by a reflective lane marker thing. It is my solid belief that because of the tires being under excessive load for their application/use, it was causing “pinch flats” that is generally associated with under inflation, despite the fact all 4 tires had 36 PSI when we left. I don’t know if anyone has any real world videos of how that works, but again, it’s like any time I drove the vehicle further than 200 miles at 70 MPH I just start seeing flats. It can’t be luck if it’s that predictible!
Sorry to hear about your problems. But don’t make them worse by associating bad luck with the tire load rating. The gash on a properly inflated tire would not be the result of the load rating, nor would the flats. You had a streak of bad luck, that’s true, but it could have happened to any car, such as a rental.
Rod Knox,
Yes, a given tire size has associated with it a given load range - EXCEPT:
a) Passenger car tires come in Standard Load (SL) and Extra Load (XL) - with the XL tires having a higher load rating - albeit with increased inflation pressure. Below 35 psi, both SL and XL tires have the same load carrying capacity at the same pressure. Please note that the term “Reinforced” is identical in concept to “XL”, and you might find that term used.
This thread is all about SL vs XL. I don’t think the dealer did something unsafe, but he didn’t exactly follow “The Rules” - which is what lead to the confusion.
b) There is some variation between the various tire standard organizations. While the dimensions have been standardized, each organization using a slightly different formula - and the result is a slightly different load carrying capacity. So you will see passenger car tires of the same size with different load carrying capacities - and the take away from this would be that all those tires have more or less the same characteristics with regard to load carrying capacity, it’s just that the EXACT value has been calculated in different ways. In essence, they behave the same.
c) There is no regulation that states a tire manufacturer has to follow those standards. They would be foolish to do otherwise, but it has been known that one manufacturer will do something non-standard. rare, but it has happened.
d) Other types of tires come in Load Ranges or Ply Ratings. For a given size, you need to know the Load Range or Ply Rating to determine the load carrying capacity - and those are also standardized by the tire standardizing organizations.
@CapriRacer - in your opinion, were any of the OP’s problems the result of the wrong load range tire being installed by the dealer?
The 90s that were put on were Kumo Solace KH-16 215/50R17 90V (no XL specified) - the 95V that was put on in Des Moines and the other 3 matching 95Vs installed by Mazda after they realized their mistake are Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus 215/50R17 95V XL
Oddly enough I can tell right away just in the first 100 miles that they ride a LOT quieter, and I no longer notice the front tires looking low due to engine weight when it’s parked.
A 0.50 aspect ratio and 17 in. rims on a family sized sedan with a 4-banger seems a design mismatch to me. But since tire size and suspension parameters are interwoven, I guess you are stuck with it.
50 series are pretty common now, hard to find 60 or higher. 50 works ok, much lower and the rim damage rate increases.
“…were Kumo Solace…”
I assume we’re talking about Kumho Solus tires. The cheapest line from the cheapest maker. OP bears some responsibility for this buying decision. A lesson I learned many years ago.
Sad thing is said Mazda dealership said the Kumho Solus were the best tires they can put on there. Even after I asked them to custom order a $200/ea set.