I just bought my grd gen '89 Prelude it came with 17" rims 205/40/17 Silverstone tyres, and after a day of having it i realised the load rating on the tyres are 80 and the specified rating for the car is 85!!

The rims And tyres were put on the car by one of 'The Tyre Factory' joints here in Melbourne. I even have the receipt for the purchase, it was March 2003 when the previous owner bought the package, along with a wheel alignment..

Anyway, what they've done is obviously 'somewhat' dangerous and illegal right? The previous owner of the car had no idea about the load ratings and assumed that TTF people knew what they were doing. And has been driving a 'somewhat' dangerous vehicle for close to 2 years.

Anyone who works as a tyre fitter or something can please assist me here, where would i stand, seeing that its been 2 years now...

Also. with regards to insurance, insurance companies dont cover your car if the rims are 2inches bigger than stock, is that right?
Does load rating affect insurance at all? do they care?

I cant call my insurance place till monday and im itching to find out...!

With the load rating of the tyres generally when the insurer sends out someone to inspect teh car after crash etc. if the load rating is wrong this voids the warranty and u dont get insurance.

Also with the Plus 2 inches being insured by insurer it generalyy is down to who u are insured with most will say as long as it complies with state laws then u are covered. Ive heard that max in vic is 2inch higher + and 1inch wider and i also heard somewhere its legal as long as the wheels are within 15mm or rolling diameter.

Tom

As said above, your insurance company definately won't come to the party if your tyres don't have the minimum required load rating.

As for getting anything out of the people at TTF, I think you're out of luck, but I am not a lawyer. Your best bet is probably to fork out some money for a new set of tyres that do meet the specifications. Bad luck there, dude.

Be careful of The T*** F****** they put a set of tyres on my car years ago and a big section of tread down to the steel about the size of my hand came flying off when I was doing 100, they had put retreads on! scared the s*** outa me!

I've NEVER seen an assessor look at tyres, apart from a casual glance at the tread.
It's another urban myth, like assesors can look at an engine and tell if it's got a big cam in it etc, and assesors can look at window tints and tell if it's legal or not.
I've had plenty of mildly and sensibly modified cars, and never had insurance companies refuse to pay out.
If the tyres have been on teh car for 2 years, and someone else had them put on, I'd forget about it.
What is the actual load in pounds or kilos on the sidewalls, and how does it compare to the cars weight?

Regards, Andrew.

mmmm load rating void insurance if ever had crash n they seen...

as for changing no chance been far to long 2 years .... not shore about size as i'm different state but if size is alright finding 85 load tyre be pretty easy hopefully thats the only concern u have....

u might never crash the car but it isnt worth paying insurance if these that risk..

(also gerard i sent u pm)

Well after alot of worry and stress, im kinda over it. I made a mistake by not checking the tyres myself. I saw the receipt from TTF before i bought the car, and assumed it would all be in order because i know that they are accurate with theyr tyre specifications, they have to be, its their job.

Also, i honestly dont see why they should not replace the tyres for the right one. Even if its been 2 years, they have done something illegal, dangerous, and ignorant.

The previous owner of the car isnt very 'car wise' and had no idea what a load rating is, all he knew is that the tyre dimensions were accurate to meet the circumference of the original wheels, and thats all he thought he needed.

A major company like the tyre factory cannot do something wrong and illegal like that to someone who doesnt know everything about tyres. Thats why we trust companies like them with our cars, because we assume they know what they are doing. If they fu*k up, they fix the problem. No matter how much later the problem is realised. Its their responsibility as a well recognised organisation.

Anyway, im going to have them looked at by ttf tomorrow. If they dont want to fix their error, ill see what consumer affairs and rta/vicroads have to say about it all.
Theyr licensed tyre fitters, if they dont want to do theyr job properly, the dont deserve the right to be in business.


..End rant

What is the actual load in pounds or kilos on the sidewalls, and how does it compare to the cars weight?


the car is supposed to have tyres that can support 515kg per tyre, these tyres have a max load of 450kg

Hey guys, just an update. I took the car into TTF today and after a bit of demanding and enforcing the fact that what they have done is illegal and dangerous and that i know what im talking about.. I got him to swap the tyres over for the right load rating ones.

So now i have a set of pirelli p700's with about 80% tread on them :D
these are 87 load rating

The guy was alright with it all, just took some convincing on my part. But overall no hassles. I guess he just wanted to avoid a legal incedent.




Thank you to evryone who put in theyr bit into this thread.

cheers

congrats and well done mate.

thats good of them, some can be real ass's..... now no probs at all insurance etc....

Can u answer my pm bout this phone mate....

I have a question about the TTF, i got recaps done about 5 months ago and took my car to get a wheel alignment done at Tyre Power and they said my tyres are unroadworthy cuz the serial number on the tyre has been scratched off :nuts: . I didn't do anything about it though, should i be worried?

recaps as in retreads? why are you buying retreads in the first place?

I have a question about the TTF, i got recaps done about 5 months ago and took my car to get a wheel alignment done at Tyre Power and they said my tyres are unroadworthy cuz the serial number on the tyre has been scratched off :nuts: . I didn't do anything about it though, should i be worried?
well make sure you avoid taking the car over 110 for a start, you don't want to experience what I did that time! For the piece of mind I would never risk getting retreads.
I understand they are good being as their cheap, but sometimes you just cant go cheap on safety. Just my 2 cents worth.

Truth is i NEEDED new tyres there and then and didn't have enough money for new tyres and they didn't have any 2nd hand tyres to fit my wheels. I havn't had any problems with my tyres as of yet so i cant say they are alright or not alright, you'll have to ask me in 6 months time. They have a 1 year warranty so if anything stuffs up i'll be sending them straight back.

Truth is i NEEDED new tyres there and then and didn't have enough money for new tyres and they didn't have any 2nd hand tyres to fit my wheels. I havn't had any problems with my tyres as of yet so i cant say they are alright or not alright, you'll have to ask me in 6 months time. They have a 1 year warranty so if anything stuffs up i'll be sending them straight back.
It's the 'stuffs up' bit I am concerned about!, I don't like to think of tyres stuffing up. am not giving you grief for having them, just saying be careful. As I said, I have been struggling before and gone the retreads, but bought newies as soon as I was able. That incident where a chunk flew off was enough to scare me away, explaining why I am a bit outspoken here. I could have just been extremely unlucky, I don't know.