Rubbing - opinion?

[swindler]

I have the Gen 2 SLE convertible, with Tein coilovers, stock wheels, and have been running with the 235/50R17 Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position tires. These are so-called "Plus Zero" sized tires versus the OEM 215/55 tires, but they fit the wheel well fine, and had about 3/8" strut clearance. These are GREAT tires, btw, well reviewed, and I was very happy with them, but they wore pretty quickly.

So when I bought tires today from Discount Tire, I bought Yokohama S.drive tires in the same 235/50R17 size. I doubt these tires are as good as the Bridgestones, but had a very good write-up in Road & Track, are value-priced, and should wear longer. I drove them home today.

BUT, although the treadwidth may be the same, the Yokohamas clearly have sidewalls that bulge out further than the Bridgestones. You can tell just by looking at them. On my drive home, I had a couple of 40 mph dips that caused the front tires to squeak against the fender, and at slow speeds, I could hear a repetitive rubbing sound. Sure enough, I checked underneath and the inside of the rear tires is rubbing against my struts.

Clearly 235/50R17s can fit, as the Bridgestones fit fine, but the Yokohamas are just too fat.

I'm disappointed that (a) I selected tires via the Discount Tire online fit guide, and these tires SHOULD have fit. Although the front fender rub is likely occurring because the front is ~2" lowered, the rears should not rub at all. And (b) they guys in the shop put these on, and should have noticed that they were rubbing, and told me before I left the shop.

So what do you think Discount Tire should do for me? What do you think they WILL do for me? I have non-stock suspension, but I used their fit guide and my prior tires (in the same size) fit. I think the rear struts should have cleared if they were Tein OR stock. AND, they put the tires on and didn't tell me there was a fit problem.

So what do you think DT will do?

[yogi]

I'm disappointed that (a) I selected tires via the Discount Tire online fit guide, and these tires SHOULD have fit. Although the front fender rub is likely occurring because the front is ~2" lowered, the rears should not rub at all. And (b) they guys in the shop put these on, and should have noticed that they were rubbing, and told me before I left the shop.

So what do you think DT will do?

I don't want to be a a** saying this but:
a. DT will tell you that tires will fit under the presumption that your car is not lowered...plus, in these times people will say a lot of things just to get the product out the door...

So, as far as DT, i don't think that you can do anything, unless it was installed by them, which brings me to this

b. the guys at the shop should have said something, as it is not safe to let you drive off the lot if the knew that tires were rubbing. By doing that, i believe that they assume the liability.




Me and my brother went to DT to have his tires changed on his Maxima....which he had dropped, the tires that he had chosen did not fit too well(his rims were 18x8 and tire he wanted was a 245), we were told that DT would not put the tires on the car since they would be liable for anything that happens to my brother or his car. We even told them that we would sign a wavier.

They did not install.......


I don't know if DT is corporate owned or is it a franchise...sooo

I i were you i would contact a district or area manager to get this taken care off....

just my .02

[swindler]

Good points, thanks.

Two quick comments back:

1) Sorry I didn't make that clear. I did buy the tires from DT, AND they did install them. So if I pick tires from their "tires that fit your vehicle" guide, and they also install them, they should share responsibility to make sure they fit.

2) I imagine they WILL complain that it's lowered. But since my Teins are adjustable, one thing I could do is to raise them back up to stock height, take them in and show the rears still rub, have the tires replaced, and then lower the car back down.

[cklinh]

Just a head's up on number two. Just because it's raised back to stock height doesn't mean it's stock suspension. I could definitely see them arguing that point.

Good points, thanks.

Two quick comments back:

1) Sorry I didn't make that clear. I did buy the tires from DT, AND they did install them. So if I pick tires from their "tires that fit your vehicle" guide, and they also install them, they should share responsibility to make sure they fit.

2) I imagine they WILL complain that it's lowered. But since my Teins are adjustable, one thing I could do is to raise them back up to stock height, take them in and show the rears still rub, have the tires replaced, and then lower the car back down.

[swindler]

Just a head's up on number two. Just because it's raised back to stock height doesn't mean it's stock suspension. I could definitely see them arguing that point.

Yeah, I could see that too. But ain't no way I'm putting my stock suspension back on just to win this argument. I measured clearance on the rear struts before and after putting on the Teins, as I was concerned about it with the 235 tires. They were VERY close to the same measurement, but it might have been 0.1" tighter with the Teins. Really, a strut body is a strut body, and they don't vary in size very much.

[Aotoyota]

where is it rubbing in the rear the top side etc of the fender or the wheel well??

I have the same tires.. 235/35R19 but bigger and have the rubbing issue, but since the wheels look that good, i cut the fender and called it a day.


plus isnt that a bit wide for the factory rims?

as for what they can do, I believe they have a satisfaction guarantee
where you can return the tires within a few days? might look into that one.

[swindler]

where is it rubbing in the rear the top side etc of the fender or the wheel well??

I have the same tires.. 235/35R19 but bigger and have the rubbing issue, but since the wheels look that good, i cut the fender and called it a day.


plus isnt that a bit wide for the factory rims?

as for what they can do, I believe they have a satisfaction guarantee
where you can return the tires within a few days? might look into that one.

I originally put on 235/50 tires because they're listed on the Discount Tire site as an optional size that will also fit my car with factory wheels. The Bridgestones fit great.

The front tires push out far enough on the outside that they hit the fender when the nose dips hard enough. I can't quite see the inside clearance on the fronts, but I think they're okay. The rears have *just* enough clearance on the outside, but are rubbing on the inside on the strut body. If I used spacers, I'd probably start rubbing on the outside.

With my adjustable Teins, I could probably give myself more clearance on the fronts if I raised the car another inch, but I think the rears would still rub.

I suppose one approach is to roll the fenders, and add a spacer to the rear wheels. If DT screws me, I might consider that.

[yogi]

When it comes to DT

Approch the location manager with the issue and see what he can do...If he's not going to help ask for a area/district manager contact info...

While doing that contact corporate office and inform them of the issue...

From my experience, calling corporate will get the best results. You can be really suprised as to how much pull and much faster things go when you deal with corporate offices.

I would bring up the liability issue - they knew that tires were too wide (they are experts right?...right ha ha) and they let you drive off the lot...
Plus mention BBB...

[CASTRO]

I own an S2000 and theres lots of talk about certain tires and sizes. It's similar to your situation since you used the same size advertised but now you get rub.

Nowadays I trust tirerack and always buy tired based not on the printed number ex:225/45/17 but instead I buy them based on the tread-width. They are not the same as the tread-width measurement they use is the actual contact patch versus the printer number where nowadays its used just to make sure it fits on certain rims.

EX:Both tires are bridgestone and only different is model tire.

RE050 vs RE-01R ->the RE-01R in a 225 was as wide as the RE050 in 245 when stacked up next to each other w/o rims. I'd use your old tire as a tread-width starting point and chose your next time based on that.

As fast as helping, they shoulda test drive for rubbing and after then hand you the keys, everything should check out. Once you leave, usually its bye bye extra help/service

[swindler]

Closure is nice.

I went to Discount Tire today, although it was a different store than the one that put on the 235/50R17 tires yesterday. I talked with the store manager, told him my story, and I tried to focus on the fact that the rears were rubbing the struts - to avoid the whole 'lowered' issue.

He said I shouldn't have been allowed to leave on those tires, and swapped them out for a set of 215/55R17 tires (OE size) of same make and model (Yokohama S.drive). Technically, I should have received $40 back as the smaller tires were cheaper, but it was confusing given that Yokohama was coincidentally running a $40 discount promotion which he did NOT give me on the second set of tires. The two canceled out. I'm not sure if that was done on purpose or not. I probably could have argued that point, but given my non-stock, lowered suspension probably played into the issue *some*, I was happy with the straight swap.

Like Castro says, you can't base the tire size based strictly on the tire size numbers. The Yokohamas I had put on yesterday were visibly bigger every way you looked at them compared to my old Bridgestones of the same 'size'. They really didn't fit, and would not have fit even with a stock setup. Whereas the Bridgestones fit in both my stock and non-stock setup. In fact, going by the 'bulk' of the tire, I'd say the Yokohamas 215 tires are comparable in size to my old Bridgestone 235 tires.

Anyway, I probably benefit from the fact that I went to a second store, as the second manager was somewhat put-out by the fact that the first store f'd up. I hope after all of this that I end up liking the tire. Road & Track liked it, so I probably will.

[Aotoyota]

the tires are awesome! give it a few hundred miles before it gets really good!

[swindler]

Nowadays I trust tirerack and always buy tired based not on the printed number ex:225/45/17 but instead I buy them based on the tread-width. They are not the same as the tread-width measurement they use is the actual contact patch versus the printer number where nowadays its used just to make sure it fits on certain rims.

Wow...Castro was exactly right. I looked up the tread width of the subject tires:

Old Bridgestone RE960A/S Pole Position 235/50R17 = width 7.7 inches

Short-lived Yokohama S.drive 235/50R17 = width 8.4 inches

New Yokohama S.drive 215/55R17 = width 7.7 inches

I would not have thought there could be so much difference, but there it is. This also makes me feel better than I'm getting the same road contact with the new tires, despite being 'sized' as smaller. It's nice to learn something new at my ripe age. I'll reference this from now on.