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?

[Brett W]

Being that your car is a 95 I would not worry about changing tire sizes. Most cars of that vintage use standard wheel speed sensors. I would check with the dealer but I doubt you would see any problems. I would drop to a 60 series side wall. The difference would be minimal.

Check with your dealer or hit www.lextrem.com and see if you can find an answer there.

[BCinSC]

QUOTE (groot @ Dec 10 2005, 11:18 AM)

QUOTE (Pnambic @ Dec 9 2005, 12:05 PM) Also, while it is true that the cars are tested extensively on the tires they leave the factory with, I would be very surprised if the tire choice is not heavily influenced by whatever deal the tire manufacturers are willing to cut the car manufacturer.  I'm sure they have an idea of what class tire they want, and then find a good deal on a tire in that class.  There are lots of ratings for tires (noise/load/speed/weather/etc) to take into consideration when selecting a new set, but I don't at all feel obligated by loyalty or safety to stick with the OEM tires.   While this is true, it's a bit more complicated than that. See, the tire manufacturers make deals with the OEMs, and submit up to 10 different tires for the OEMs to test. And they're always a compromise. While tires can be built to focus on different attributes, you really can only get 2 of those attributes since the attributes work against each other (fuel economy and NVH, or snow and wet handling, steering precision and NVH, etc). So, you look for the best mix and tune around the tire. Picking a tire with slightly more grip on a passenger car can lead to a debead or rim strike in an emergency situation. We tested a competitive vehicle last week that debeaded it's right rear tire during the tire warm-up session. Scary stuff. So, the point is not all OEMs are as thorough as we are.

You managed to actually debead a tire? In all my years and numerous stupid stunts (and riding with DJM914-6 and his crazy driving), I've never heard of that. Even my cheap-a$$ Kumho 165R15 732s on OEM steels didn't separate in HARD cornering manuevers. Sure, they rolled over and I might have scraped a rim, but no separation. Furthermore, if a high-end Michelin did that, they'd be out of business from lawsuits. Bottom line, the 2% difference in 195/65 and 205/65 shouldn't make a difference. I believe Maine passed this law with a batch of others in 1993, finally enacted them in 2004, and repealed most of them within 6 months - but the tire salesmen hang onto it. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/dead horse.gif)

[groot]

Yep, it happens more often than it should, unfortunately. Keep in mind, I'm not drving around a parking lot doing this in my spare time. This is my job. And that job includes keeping Ford out of lawsuits.

[Brett W]

When you combine heavy vehicles, with soft suspension, flexible sidewalls, possible under-inflated tires, weak shocks, hard driving in an emergency situation, you can have tires unseat. That is part of the reason why maintaining your vehicle is so important.

There are so many interdependent systems on a vehicle that small things that seem fairly insignificant can jump up and bite you in the ass.

[BCinSC]

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/mgw.gif) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wreath.gif) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/jerkit.gif)

[groot]

Dude, you asked.