Fitting Non Standard Tyre Size Rant

Bailes1992

Bailes1992

Joined
Mar 10, 2017
Messages
2,136
Location
South Wales, UK
Not sure what the answer is here, but merely a rant.

Ordered 4 new tyres for my Dacia Duster.

I decided to order 235/55 R17 over the standard 215/60 R17. The rolling radiuses are identical and there is ample room to go wider. Standard wheels are 7" wide if that makes any difference and thought the extra 20mm in tread touching the road would be a pleasant addition.

Garage refused to fit them and they've had to be sent back to the supplier 🙄

When I arrived the garage was quiet and the 3 guys working there were just sitting doing sod all. I suspect it was any excuse not to work.
 
I'd say the installer does not know about the rim width range for tires and just thinks only the exact same size can be mounted on your rims.

235/55-17 rim width range 6.5 - 8.5"
215/60-17 rim width range 6.0 - 7.5"

Your rims are 7" wide. Well within the spec for either tire.
 
Had the same issue at a local Walmart. I brought in tires that were 10mm wider...same aspect ratio, same rim, higher load rating. They wouldn't mount them. I asked to borrow a jack...took the rims off one by one and rolled them in the back door. They changed the tires one by one. I gave them the jack back and went on my way.
 
Originally ordered some Michelin Latitude Cross in 235/55 R17, now ordered Toyo Open Country AT3's in the standard 215/60 R17. They're getting fitted on Wednesday.

Would love some 16" Tuff Torque steel wheels, so maybe I'll try again to go wider later in the year with a new set of wheels.
 
Bailes1992 said:
Not sure what the answer is here, but merely a rant.

Ordered 4 new tyres for my Dacia Duster.

I decided to order 235/55 R17 over the standard 215/60 R17. The rolling radiuses are identical and there is ample room to go wider. Standard wheels are 7" wide if that makes any difference and thought the extra 20mm in tread touching the road would be a pleasant addition.

Garage refused to fit them and they've had to be sent back to the supplier 🙄

When I arrived the garage was quiet and the 3 guys working there were just sitting doing sod all. I suspect it was any excuse not to work.
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I don't know how the laws are in the UK but in Germany if you want to run anything but what the manufacturer specs in size or speed rating you need an ABE (Allgemeine Betriebserlaubnis) allowing the tire to be legally fitted. Without the ABE the car is not allowed on the road and the insurance will not pay for anything if the vehicle is in a accident as the vehicles ABE is void and no longer road legal.

Most tire companies offer an ABE at not charge today without getting a special inspection, I would ask the tire dealer.
 
Trav said:
I don't know how the laws are in the UK but in Germany if you want to run anything but what the manufacturer specs in size or speed rating you need an ABE (Allgemeine Betriebserlaubnis) allowing the tire to be legally fitted. Without the ABE the car is not allowed on the road and the insurance will not pay for anything if the vehicle is in a accident as the vehicles ABE is void and no longer road legal.

Most tire companies offer an ABE at not charge today without getting a special inspection, I would ask the tire dealer.
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Nothing that I'm aware of. You have to notify your insurance that you're running non-standard tyres and that's about it.
 
Trav said:
I don't know how the laws are in the UK but in Germany if you want to run anything but what the manufacturer specs in size or speed rating you need an ABE (Allgemeine Betriebserlaubnis) allowing the tire to be legally fitted. Without the ABE the car is not allowed on the road and the insurance will not pay for anything if the vehicle is in a accident as the vehicles ABE is void and no longer road legal.

Most tire companies offer an ABE at not charge today without getting a special inspection, I would ask the tire dealer.
Click to expand...
In a democracy you get what you vote for.
Here in NA, a bro truck rolling coal is a continuation of the Boston Tea Party.
We fired our guns, but the British kept a coming….
 
Most any standard tire shop that most of their work comes from passenger cars and pickups won’t mount any oversized tires, lower speed rating, etc due to the liability.

Best thing to do is find a tire shop that does commercial tire work for large vehicles. I’ve never had a problem getting them to do the work, and they typically do a better job.
 
Trav said:
I don't know how the laws are in the UK but in Germany if you want to run anything but what the manufacturer specs in size or speed rating you need an ABE (Allgemeine Betriebserlaubnis) allowing the tire to be legally fitted. Without the ABE the car is not allowed on the road and the insurance will not pay for anything if the vehicle is in a accident as the vehicles ABE is void and no longer road legal.

Most tire companies offer an ABE at not charge today without getting a special inspection, I would ask the tire dealer.
Click to expand...

And In Belgium we can deviate 1.5% from the original diameter, no limits on width except they have to fit inside the fenders.
 
Bailes1992 said:
Not sure what the answer is here, but merely a rant.

Ordered 4 new tyres for my Dacia Duster.

I decided to order 235/55 R17 over the standard 215/60 R17. The rolling radiuses are identical and there is ample room to go wider. Standard wheels are 7" wide if that makes any difference and thought the extra 20mm in tread touching the road would be a pleasant addition.

Garage refused to fit them and they've had to be sent back to the supplier 🙄

When I arrived the garage was quiet and the 3 guys working there were just sitting doing sod all. I suspect it was any excuse not to work.
Click to expand...

I'll be interested to see what impact the wider tyres have. My MG has the same 215/60R17 on 7" rim, and I'm considering getting 8" wheels with 235/55R17 or 235/50 R17 or 245/45R18
 
Sounds like the liabilities and requirements in Europe are significant. There's quite a few states in the USA that have vehicle inspections, but not here in California. I'm rolling monster oversized mud terrains on my lifted FJ Cruiser. Nobody... including the shops... bat an eye.
 
Bailes1992 said:
Not sure what the answer is here, but merely a rant.

Ordered 4 new tyres for my Dacia Duster.

I decided to order 235/55 R17 over the standard 215/60 R17. The rolling radiuses are identical and there is ample room to go wider. Standard wheels are 7" wide if that makes any difference and thought the extra 20mm in tread touching the road would be a pleasant addition.

Garage refused to fit them and they've had to be sent back to the supplier 🙄

When I arrived the garage was quiet and the 3 guys working there were just sitting doing sod all. I suspect it was any excuse not to work.
Click to expand...
Do the tires (tyres) bulge on the rim. Somewhere I found a website that lists tire size and wheel rim compatibility. Not sure if the tires are considered to wide for that wheel width.
 
Trav said:
I don't know how the laws are in the UK but in Germany if you want to run anything but what the manufacturer specs in size or speed rating you need an ABE (Allgemeine Betriebserlaubnis) allowing the tire to be legally fitted. Without the ABE the car is not allowed on the road and the insurance will not pay for anything if the vehicle is in a accident as the vehicles ABE is void and no longer road legal.

Most tire companies offer an ABE at not charge today without getting a special inspection, I would ask the tire dealer.
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Understandable with Autobahn.

+/-5% here, but the speedometer should not show to low speed, technically illegal. And Load index must be high enough.
 
Jetronic said:
I'll be interested to see what impact the wider tyres have. My MG has the same 215/60R17 on 7" rim, and I'm considering getting 8" wheels with 235/55R17 or 235/50 R17 or 245/45R18
Click to expand...

It's something I really need to think about. The good news is once I have my Toyo's on come Wednesday I have some time to decide.

I'd like to change to steel wheels as I've given my Dusters alloys a bit of a beating off road etc. They're all straight and round but there's some scratching on the faces now.

Someone on one of the Duster groups had some 17" steel wheels off the Renault Talisman and had them modified by 'banding' them and installing the centre section in a different location to fit BF Goodrich T/A K02's on in 235/65 R17 without rubbing. Not sure I'm brave enough for that, but it would gain me ~25mm of ground clearance and slightly taller gearing which for the majority of my driving would be somewhat beneficial.

I quite like the look of the steel wheels from a 2015 onwards Vauxhall Vivaro/Renault Traffic/Nissan Primestar. They have the same 5x114.3mm PCD and 66.1mm centre bore and ET50 as the factory wheels on my Duster but they are 16". The Renault ones come with a nice branded centre cap which would go well on the Duster and they'd look quite good powder coated. Only concern which I'd need to do some research on is the Vivaro uses M14 wheel bolts where the Duster is M12. Does that even make a difference as long as the head of the bolt is correct?

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I like the BF Goodrich T/A K02's on our Defender but there isn't any good sizes that are a similar match rolling-radius wise on a 17" rim. If I went up to an 18" then they do a 225/55 R18 which is a very good match but there's not many A/T's available in that size so worry that I'm limiting my future choices.
 
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