Walmart is Dumb

cbjones26 · Post by **cbjones26** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 8:55 pm

ok well i decied to put tires on the front of my car for winter being i had 2 new ones on the back , i went an for a lil over 150 i can get 195/70/14 good year viva 2 and i said sounds like a good price with life time balance and new stems so im waiting at walmart for like 45 mins they call saying that i need to come back to the tire section aspa and i get back there an they tell me they cant install these tires bc they are not the oem recommended size that if i wanted to buy them i can but they cant put them on. i ask why bc i bought the other tires at that same walmart and they installed them the tech said that they cant install them bc the recommened size is 185/60/14 and that installing a bigger tire will mess with the stearing and the speedo i told him the only thing it does to the stearing is make it handle better in the snow having the bigger tire and he is full of it about the speedo bc going from a 185 to 195 isnt going to do anything maybe if i went from a 14" tire to like a 17 " then id see a diff in my speedo being off. so they pissed me off an asked if i wanted the tires and that i could just ahve a diff garage put them on i told them that they are retarted and that ill just buy tires else where an left!

Post by **racer12306** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:01 pm

actually...............

185/60/14 is not the OEM size, 185/65/14 is the OEM size for the 14" wheels. Also, there is a big difference between a 185/65/14 and a 195/70/14.

185/65/14 = 23.5"
195/70/14 = 24.7"

So the 195/70/14 is over an inch taller, it will mess with your speedo and odometer. If you want winter tires you want narrower tires so that they will cut through snow better.

Post by **racer12306** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:05 pm

also, moving to tires.

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:13 pm

Actually going from 185 to 195 does make difference. Look into aspect ratios.

195/70/14 is a tall tire, but it's still smaller than a 195/65/15, which I know fits fine on the neon just fine. Just have to remember that the speedo will be out by around 5.5%.

Here's a good link to play around with:
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalcold.html

EDIT: Walmart shops are full of tards.

cbjones26 · Post by **cbjones26** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:58 pm

ok how does it mess with ur speedo? my speedo read 30mph an i went by one those raidar set up things the cops use in town and it said i was doing 30? and i dont want a narrow tire for the snow they handle like shit imo anyways and i know that the 195 are about an inch taller that is why i wanted them .. im live in northern ny roads are shit here the more ground clearance the better!!! no i dont want a truck!!... well ok i would like my old 03 quad cab dak back but thats not gonna happen!!>lol

dblsg · Post by **dblsg** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:34 am

the speedo wont be far off at lower speeds, but as you increase you speed, you increase the difference.

jT · Post by jT » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:09 am

every store can have their quirks

Town Fair Tire i've overheard employee talking to customer that basically they wont work on your car if you have aftermarket rims that you did not buy from them.. just another reason to say fuck town fair tire.

as for the speedo issue, theres a list somewhere that someone did up showing the different speed discrepancies for different tire sizes.. somewhere in the forum

cbjones26 · Post by **cbjones26** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:22 am

well it cant be off by to much bc even at 60 mph cops dont pull me over an when im going 70 on the highway and the speed limit is 65 i still dont get pulled over , they are still dumb even if it does affect the speedo im paying them to do a service that in no way as far as i can see affect any saftey of the car!

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:32 am

cbjones26 wrote:and i dont want a narrow tire for the snow they handle like shit imo anyways and i know that the 195 are about an inch taller that is why i wanted them

Ummm...you do want a narrower tire (and taller) in the snow. The wider the tire, the worse the grip in snow.

And the tire isn't taller because it's a 195, that just means it's wider than a 185. You are using a 70 series tire with would be taller than a 60 series.

Just so you know.

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:50 am

cbjones26 wrote:ok how does it mess with ur speedo? my speedo read 30mph an i went by one those raidar set up things the cops use in town and it said i was doing 30? and i dont want a narrow tire for the snow they handle like shit imo anyways and i know that the 195 are about an inch taller that is why i wanted them .. im live in northern ny roads are shit here the more ground clearance the better!!! no i dont want a truck!!... well ok i would like my old 03 quad cab dak back but thats not gonna happen!!>lol

Basic math:

Diameter of 185/65/14 = 23.5"
Diameter of 195/70/14 = 24.7"

Throw some pi in the mix:

Circumference of 185/65/14 = 73.8in
Circumference of 195/70/14 = 77.6in

In this case for every revolution of the wheel you travel 3.8" further than you should. The speedometer works by counting the revolutions of the differential, so for the same RPM/speedo reading with the larger tire you are covering more distance than it suggests, thus traveling faster than it's indicating. The difference is less as lower speed as it's less revolutions, but as your speed grows so does the error. And those speed trap radar things are the last things you want to use to check the calibration of your speedo.

Nothing wrong with 195's in the snow and ice. That's the size I run year round and they're fine.

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 11:07 am

Good info. And I agree that 195 are good in snow, I was just stating that narrow tires are better than wider ones.

Post by **occasional demons** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:05 pm

Danteneon wrote:Good info. And I agree that 195 are good in snow, I was just stating that narrow tires are better than wider ones.

It really depends on the type of snow. And the siping that the tires have. Wet slushy snow needs skinny tires to keep it from lifting them from the road surface. Dry or good packing snow will support braking and acceleration a bit better, so wider tires tend to do better. Ice, you're pretty much screwed but a wider tire with a lot of sipes will do much better on ice and most kinds of snow. Sloppy slush pretty much owns all. The 255/70R 16's on my Raider far out perform the 235/75R 15's on my Jeep. They are the same brand/type tire. This is more true with braking on slippery surfaces. I had to be really careful braking in the Raider, because there have been too many ppl almost rear end me in the snow. It's not a comfy feeling seeing a full size Ram all squirrely and shit comming fast on your bumper.
Sounds like Wal Mart has adopted Sam's Club's policy's. They won't do anything different than what the sticker on the door says. Too afraid of getting sued. Sam's won't even install aftermarket wheels if they vary from OEM spec.
But if you can take them the wheels/tires, and have the tires removed/installed then take them home to install them, they will mount the tires. Since they have no control over what they are bolted to, once they leave the store, they aren't liable.
This is one advantage of having a spare set of rims for winter. Just throw them in the back, get what you want mounted and take them home. I will tell you an inch taller tire will have a noticeable effect on your acceleration and braking. I had 205/60R-14's on the neon, and it sucked ass. And those aren't much taller than the 185/65R 14. The other thing to consider is how much more the tires weigh.

cbjones26 · Post by **cbjones26** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 7:18 pm

well i just bought some 185/65/14 toyo tires for 55 for 2 them used! they look like they are brand new so they prolly dont have many miles on them so ill go back to the stock size tire

WALMART IS STILL DUMB!