My son used the car and he is in college about 250 miles from home. Initially, the tires are Yokohama 195/65/r15 91H.
Then, he got a flat tire and he went to local shop and they replaced it with Good Year 195/65/r15 89S. He has been driving it for about 6-10k miles. (Thus, rear wheels have one Good year and one Yokohama)
Today, the old Yokohama’s tread is thinning thus I want to change it to Goodyear. I went to Sam’s, they won’t install it for me because the “book or chart” said that it should be 89H due to liability issue.
Are they correct? I checked. H and S are speed factor. Max speed for S is 112 miles per hour and H is 130 miles per hour. Since we are not driving that fast, we should be OK with 89 S. Am I correct? or, I am missing something?
Thanks much.
You’re going to find many shops will not put a tire on a vehicle with a lower speed rating than the vehicle came with. It’s a liability issue. Well, actually a tort reform issue…we need tort reform to stop rediculous lawsuits. A crash, a good lawyer, a discovery that a tire with a lower speed rating was used, an arguement that it affects handling, and suddenly you have a $10M lawsuit going.
Try a Goodyear store. Or perhaps a few.