Alternate tire size = fail inspection??!!??, State of Maine Options

[BCinSC]

Sorry: NPC - '95 Lexus ES300, but I know y'all will give excellent advice

Want to put 195/65 R15 on instead of 205/65 R15 and am told that car will fail Maine inspection because it has anti-lock brakes and those 12mm in circumference difference will negate effectiveness?

[groot]

QUOTE (rhcb914 @ Dec 8 2005, 07:01 AM)

ABS just detects when a wheel locks up and release pressure just enough until the wheel starts spinning again. Even if you put different sizes front and rear the system will still detect lockup and release pressure accordingly. It may just have to work a bit harder.

More sophisticated ABS systems (4 channel ABS,... many cars in the last 10-15 years) measure wheel RPM to determine if a tire has low pressure. Therefore if your car has this system it will always tell you that you have low tire pressure if you run different tire sizes.

I'd guess that your Lexus uses ABS to measure wheel rpm.

In these days of ABS, IVD (intereactive vehicle dynamics) and RSC (roll stability control), you're taking a big risk by changing tires from the tire that the vehicle was developed on.