Over at the Campaign for Better Tyres, we have recently been hearing a few stories about tyre shops trying to talk their customers into changing their wheel size and/or their tyre size.
If you want to do this for atheistic or cosmetic reasons and can cope with the expense, then go ahead. But we maintain that there is little if anything to be gained in terms of safety or road handling from changing your wheel size from 16 to 18 inches etc; except for the tyre shop which will end up banking a good sale! Similarly, there is probably nothing to be gained from increasing tyre width from say 215 45 17 to 225 45 17 or even 235 40 17. Wider tyre widths are no guarantee of better road holding in wet weather, they may even reduce it.
Vehicle manufacturers put a lot of effort into determining the optimal rim and tyre size for a vehicle. Extensive road testing over many months will have highlighted the best wheel and tyre size which is unlikely to be bettered by some tyre shops off the cuff recommendation.
Sometimes a tyre shop will recommend a tyre size change because their tyre manufacturer does not make a size or because they do not have it in stock. Bettertyres recognises the financial and competitive pressures faced by tyre retailers but such pressures do not justify cajoling or pressuring their customers to buy anything but the optimal tyre size for their vehicle.
Agreed, I recently had a tyre shop try to get me to change my tyre size from 205 55 16 to 215 55 16 because they reckoned it would be safer. It was late Saturday morning, I think they had no 205 55 16’s in stock.
I don’t dispute what you have written, but the customer could always say no.
True, but the consumer should never be put in to a position where they are vulnerable and are dependent on using their smarts to avoid the con…
Mathew
If your comment re the manufacturer is correct please explain why many vehicles have the base model with a smaller rim and skinnier tyre than the middle and top models even though they run the same drivetrain and power
Be clear I am not knocking what you are saying but would be interested to know if it makes that much difference or if the manufacturer has used the research on the middle and top vehicle and deliberately despec’ed the entry model
Hi John
Like you say, the manufacturer is probably deliberately lowering the specification of the cheaper model, otherwise there would be no reason to go up market in the model range. But usually it is the higher performance models which have wider/lower profile tyres while the “cooking pot” model makes do with a narrower size and cheaper tyres. I am no suspension engineer, but wider tyres cause more rolling resistance which would not be helpful for a lower performance model.
Simon