While I agree that any tire with a speed rating equal to your cars maximum speed is safe, many stores will not put on a tire with a lower speed rating than the car came with. The first reason is that they don’t want customers coming back saying “my car doesn’t handle the same with these new tires. Something’s wrong. Fix it.” The second reason is that in the unlikely even that something should happen, they don’t want to have to accept the possible liability…people get crazy awards for dumb reasons all the time. We’re badly in need of tort reform, but that’s another forum.
What the shop did was not unusual. They may have even been just following their company’s policies.
My Mazda RX-7 came with V-rated (150 mph) tires. My tire dealer had no problem replacing them with H-rated (130 mph) ones. Since the car’s top speed was less than 125 mph, this was entirely reasonable. I could have gotten by with an even lower rating since I never took it above 90 mph and that only for a few seconds.
You need a new tire dealer. Your current one is feeding you BS for his own reasons. One option would be to order tires from an internet dealer like TireRack and have them installed by one of their local, approved installers. Your Toyota dealer or an independent mechanic could also install them.
what I found interesting is that the store I went to was a national chain. the first store refused to put on the T tires… but then I just went down the street to a different store in the same chain and they did not blink an eye… they put them on… so… I have no idea what is going on with that.
Bye the way… the T tires I have on now handle better than the old V tires…
Find a different tire store. It’s your car and your money and you can put whatever tires you want on it.
Or choose the tires you want on www.tirerack.com, have them shipped to a local installer near you who will install them for you and DRIVE ON…You will be happy with “H” or “T” rated tires…Forget the tire store mumbo-jumbo…
"Bye the way… the T tires I have on now handle better than the old V tires… "
You’ve highlighed a common misconception. V rating only relates to ability to handle high speeds, not handling. Frequently V rated tires are only available in the high-performance lines, so they often do handle better, but that’s a result of the tire design, not the speed rating. Sounds like you got a good set of tires. I’ve always been happy with the Michelins I’ve bought.
thats exactly what I did … the new tires work fine… was funny … one of the original stores called me back and wondered when I was coming up to have the V tires installed… I told them i took my money elsewhere… they were not happy…
I have heard a couple of times that a federal law now makes it illegal for a dealer to mount a tire on a car with a lower speed rateing than what the manufacturer fitted, or to inflate it to other than the manufacture’s recommended pressure. Whether or not this is true, I don’t know.
In any case, my opinion is that for ordinary driving, currently the best compromise is an H rated tire. You will definitely feel the improved handling of the H over the T even with the unexciting car in question.
BTW, at the track, I have seen many drivers hitting 130 on the main straight on (properly inflated) H rated tires, and on the track, tires get MUCH hotter than on the road. The only time I would be afraid to use a properly inflated H rated tire on the road at 130 would be for a long time on an extremely hot day around Phoenix.
well all I can say is that these new T tires handle much better than the old V tires even when they were new… again … I am never even going to go 118 mph the T tire rating… sooo. should not have to worry … and again I refuse to pay $100 dollars more for a set of tires that last half as long…
there is no federal law that requires you to put on the rated tire… as far as I can tell… i mad a couple of phone calls and at least as of yet I have not heard and kind of response like that…
I would really like to hear what click and clack have to say about it… it is very hard to get onto the show…
but like I have been saying through out this chain Toyota said that the T rated tires would be fine… they said i could put Q’s on… as long as I did not go over 99 Mph… so I am very comfortable with my choice of tire. Michelin X radials… they are a nice tire and work well for my 2007 toyota camry
I checked your car while at work (I work at a garage as well), and the specs. that I see for your car say that you do take V-rated tires. Getting tires that are appropriately rated for your car are important (and not just because you’re trying to impress babes). Tires with higher speed rating (such as V-rated tires) have stiffer sidewalls on them. Putting tires on a car that have a lower speed rated then required is not advisable because the tires cannot hold as much weight and run the risk of popping off the bead while turning and coming off the rim. Hence, most garages refuse to put tires on vehicles with a lower speed-rating. However, if you must run lower speed-rated tires on your car to save $100, then you can simply take your tires and rims off the vehicle, take them to a garage, and have any tire that will fit mounted on. Then, you can take them and remount them on your vehicle.
I currently work at a busy tire shop and deal with this issue almost daily. First off if a bunch of Japanese guys with engineering degrees say put a specific tire on a car thats what my feeling is. In 2007 every single camry toyota put out has a v rated tire on it (yea that includes the hybrid too). The reason higher rated tires wear out faster is the different tread compounds. Generally the higher the tire rating the better the grip which equates to take off grip and stopping distance. The way I put it is if I put a lower rated tire on a car( which I can only go 1 rating lower buy shop standards with a signed waiver) and hit a person, car or animal due to a longer stopping distance the money saved will not be worth it or cost effective.
Thank you for posting this question. I have a 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid with 25,500 miles and I need to get replacement tires. The original tires are Bridgestone Turanzo EL 400-02 which have zero mileage warranty and a 94 V speed rating. I spoke with Bridgestone technical support and they recommended the Turanzo Serenty which has 50K mileage warranty and a 94 V speed rating. I always liked Michelin tires and had a set on my previous 2005 Honda Accord. I researched the current tires on the Michelin website and found the HydroEdge. This tire has 90K mileage warranty and 94 T rating. I contacted the Michelin technical support and they were against selecting this tire and suggested I choose the Energy MXV4 S8 94 V tire. Like the person in Minnesota I am a 50 year old driver. I typically drive back and forth to work and run errands for the wife and children. I do not have the snow and ice. I live in Florida and temperatures which are hot and hotter. As I write this message I am leaning towards staying with the 94 T HydroEdge tire despite the earlier responses regarding “overvalue and underutilization”. I am happy to hear the original poster is satisfied with the T rated tires chosen. Since the person from Minnesota contacted Toyota already that saves a few steps for me. I will let you know my final decision.