wrong tire size? Topic is solved

enotslim · Post by **enotslim** » 07 Oct 2019, 10:40

Bought two new tires this weekend to replace worn fronts on 1998 V70 T5. My long time independent tire dealer recently went out of business so I tried their neighbor (who boasted that he put the indie out of business) because I didn't want to drive around searching for tires on a beautiful Saturday morning.

New tires rubbed against the fender lining when turning and stopping. On return the shop said rubbing was due to a worn suspension/low ride and switching front/rear would allow driving until suspension is fixed (because "old rear tires are smaller diameter due to wear, like the old fronts you are replacing"). The suspension is in fact shot and switching did improve things but new tires still rub against the rear fender linings after switching.

Once home I discovered I bought P205/65 R 16 95 H. The tires now on the front, that work fine on the front now and worked fine on the rear before switching, are P205/55 R 16 89 H. I don't actually know the dimensions of the tires that were replaced (because I didn't check and no longer have them in my possession) but I think it's safe to assume they were P205/55, not P205/65.

Seems to me the problem is the new tires are an incorrect size. P205/55 is given in the specs as replacement for this car. I emailed the shop yesterday for resolution, haven't heard back and haven't followed up yet today.

Is there any way these are not the wrong tires for this car? I would like a full refund because I don't trust this shop and they already had an opportunity to correct their error - and didn't. I would take correctly sized tires but I doubt they have any and I don't want to wait for delivery.

Other than that - any suggestions? (Besides not being so gullible as to believe that wear can change a tire diameter by this amount).

Thanks.

Post by **misha** » 07 Oct 2019, 10:55

205/65/16 are too tall and wrong size for the car.That's why they rub.
You need 205/55/16.

Post by **matthew1** » 07 Oct 2019, 10:58

The wear thing is BS. It does change the diameter, but it's small, like rounding error small.

Good fit sizes:

205/55R15 2.3 / 2.1 OE
205/50R16 2.3 / 2.1 OE
205/45ZR17 2.5 / 2.3
215/45ZR17 2.5 / 2.3

The 50 aspect ratio was replaced with 55 when too many cars came back with popped tires because of the short sidewall.

65's are awful tall.

Post by **BEJinFbk** » 07 Oct 2019, 11:43

They sold you the wrong tires. End of story.
Any decent shop would have the right size info.
( Heck, it’s physically printed on your gas lid! )

I’d go back with a friendly, but firm attitude and
get the right tires on your car. Best of Luck!

Post by **abscate** » 09 Oct 2019, 05:31

New tread 8/32 inch

Worn out tire 2/32 tread

Difference 6/32 or 3/16 inch from new to wornout. That’s about 6mm for all the people who don’t live in Liberia, Myanmar, or a few other weird places.

enotslim · Post by **enotslim** » 17 Oct 2019, 09:21

Thanks for your comments. Got a full refund without any argument. The manager did the right thing, which was nice to see. They would have supplied correct size tires but I didn't want to trust their recommendations. Now off to find a substitute (while driving on snow tires) for the independent that was shuttered by the place I tried. Is there no justice?

Post by **matthew1** » 17 Oct 2019, 10:41

Enotslim, thanks for the update and resolution. I think that manager is the Good Guy in the end. He switched sides.

Post by **BEJinFbk** » 17 Oct 2019, 15:35

It’s good to hear that they owned the issue and took care of you.
In this day and age, that’s something we could all use a lot more of!