Hey,
I have a 98 sentra se that had standard 195/55/15's from the factory. Today I tried to buy some tires from tirerack.com that were 195/50/15 and some guy called me at home and said he couldn't let me have those because the "max load" was less than the factory size! I told him I already had a Kumho 195/50/15, which I bought from them, on there. He just said he could sell me a 205/50 or a 195/55...which the price difference was a lot more (about $80 total difference). What's everyone think...do I absolutely need to have 195/55/15's...will my car blow up...what gives?!

Sounds to me like he's seriously misinformed.

Which Kumho's are you trying to get? the 711's or the 712's? I know that over in the b15 forum people were talking about the problems they had with the 711's. Usually tirerack is very good about being knowledgable about tires and wheels.
I got my 205/50 712's from them. why would you want to go with the 195/50's?

just curious
O

Max load has nothing to do with size. It is the rating on the side of the tire listed as, for example only, 82w (850lbs). It specifies how much the tire can handle weight/load wise. Hard cornering can have a similar effect to running with a ton of stuff or riders in the car. Nissan specs a minimum load rating.
Usually, a high speed rated tire will meet load because the construction to keep a tire from exploding at speed helps keep it together under opposite load.
I don't know what tires you wanted to buy, but that is what he was probably referring to. Whether the tires do or don't meet spec is another issue.
Same with whether he is linking load to size or is just listing what sizes he has that meet load.

How weird. I sell tires, and I can say that the 195/55/15 shouldn't be "too much" different than the 195/50/15. I order thru the tirerack all the time at work. I usually don't tell them what car I have, I tell them the size and the amount of tires I need. Thats really odd that they won't sell you tires. I also understand where they're coming from though... the 195/50 is a stock size on the Miata, and I'm sure thats what they're basing their info on.

Ben

If you really want them just talk to a different salesperson or say they are for a diff type of car...like what Ben said. Say they are for a miata!:)

That happened to me too when I bought my 195/50/15 Potenza S0-3's. He said he cannot sell me them and that he would have to substitute either 195/55 or 205/50. I then told him just to cancel the order and he said he'll make an exception. He also told me to keep the pressure at least 38psi all the time for safety issues.

Honestly why in the world would they care... u are giving them the one thing that they honestly need to stay in business... MONEY. Why would they question so much all they need to do is put out a notice that says the salesperson may recommend you not getting them and they dont' have to worry about being sued imo or whatever there reasoning behind it is.

Originally posted by SERiousRacer
Honestly why in the world would they care...

Liability. That is why they want to know the exact year, make, and model of your car when ordering.

Today, everyone sues everyone for everything and TireRack.com is just trying to stay ahead of the idiots trying to sue them for mismatched tires that could cause uneven tread wear, poor driving conditions, etc.

Ford/Firestone bring back any memories???

I agree with TireRacks decision.

i agree, all this ford/firestone contraversy, a big company like tire rack has to set precautions

Originally posted by OnyxEros
Which Kumho's are you trying to get? the 711's or the 712's? I know that over in the b15 forum people were talking about the problems they had with the 711's. Usually tirerack is very good about being knowledgable about tires and wheels.
I got my 205/50 712's from them. why would you want to go with the 195/50's?

just curious
O Kumho 711's had problems?? whoa thats news to me!! i have 205/40 17's on my wheels and they've held up very nicely i wonder if it's the way people drive em , i know the 712's are Z rated but i don't see what the difference is being that i probably won't see 145+ MPH and i dont street race, but thats just me..........

Originally posted by SERacer
That happened to me too when I bought my 195/50/15 Potenza S0-3's. He said he cannot sell me them and that he would have to substitute either 195/55 or 205/50. I then told him just to cancel the order and he said he'll make an exception. He also told me to keep the pressure at least 38psi all the time for safety issues.


I don't really see why they would do this... the difference between a 195/50/15 S-03 and a 205/50/15 RE-730 is only about 100lbs.

mrtturbo
Exactly what tires did you try to buy?

For what it's worth I called back 2 days later and tried to order them again, no luck. I argue but got no where. I had to cancel the order and sign up again at tirerack for an account (under a new name and this time I said I had a 2002 miata). This time it worked. The order went through since the 195/50/15 is a correct size for a miata. Basically they make you state which car the application is for...if they dont match up you don't get the tires. So anyone who wants 195/50's say you have a 2002 miata!!!

Last fall i had a similar problem w/ them when i tried to order some snow tires. I had a set of Michelin Alpins and the fronts were GONE, had driven the summer of 2000 on them (WHOOPS). The website no longer listed them so i assumed they didn't have em anymore (like the RE-71s, damn) so i was going to get a pair of the new Michs or something comparable. Bout halfway thru the order i let it slip what i was doing, well that pretty much killed it.
I was lucky that they still had some of the older Michs that they hadn't gotten rid of yet, a little cheaper too. Unfortunately they sent me one 14" and on 13"!?! They were nice enough to eventually cover the shipping for the entire fiasco. Bottom line, they obviously have seen whats goin on and have wisely instituted some policies, who knows maybe something even happened to one of their customers who then got a lawyer.
Glad this was posted *** cause the 195/50-15 SO-3 was on my short list for a set of B14 SE-R wheels sittin in my garage.

yea if you want 195/50/15's you need to state (when you sign up) that you have a 2002 miata. I ordered the 195/50VR-15 Yokohama AVS ES100 and it came with a free HPI race car (that's one of the reasons i wanted those specific tires).