Can having 1 truck tire smaller than the others be dangerous or cause damage?

August 23, 2008 1:15 AM

Nearly a year ago I blew out my right from tire on my 2001 Toyota Tacoma. It is also a PreRunner and TRD. My tires are Dayton Timberline AT (all terrain) size 265/75R16. I could only afford on at the time but knew I would be needing three more soon. I checked my tire size in order to get multiple estimates from all the local companies and I realized they had put on a 265/70R16 on accident. I have driven nearly 20,000 miles on the oddly matched tires and had them rotated 6 months ago. Should I be worried about and damage to my truck? I've called the company and they apologized and offered to give me 4 new tires, one for free and all at the 75 size. They also said they would match the competitors price which was 50 dollars cheaper because I was a loyal customer.He then assured me that no damaged could have been done from their error. They were unable to acquire the 4 new tires I originally had and are now looking for something of equivalently quality. Should I go to a mechanic or trust the tire place who already charged me for one tire and delivered a smaller cheaper one .
posted by isopropyl to Travel & Transportation (10 answers total)

Don't give these idiots any more of your business. Putting the wrong diameter tire on could have gotten you into a nasty accident. Now they've offered to "match prices" but they won't (not can't) even obtain the merchandise they promised to match prices on. You don't know about tires - they know that by now. You'll be getting the cheapest tires they can find. You want them to cut corners on balancing too? How many chances to kill you are you going to give these guys?
posted by ikkyu2 at 2:41 AM on August 23, 2008 [2 favorites]

I wouldn't worry too much. According to the 'search by vehicle' feature on TireRack.com, 265/70 was the original equipment size for an '01 4WD Tacoma, so while the one tire they put on was different from the three they left, it was the "right" size for the vehicle. A quick google search on these tires turns up more craigslist ads for used tires than it does retailers of new ones, so I suspect Dayton/Bridgestone may be phasing them out of production, which makes sense of the shop's inability get more of them. Furthermore, the one retailer I found that did carry both of these sizes charges about $13 a tire MORE for the smaller tire, which belies ikkyu2's suggestion that they were intentionally trying to screw you. Dayton tires are lower-end to begin with ('made by Bridgestone for the budget market') so I doubt the shop is looking for something even cheaper.

As to damage, the difference is essentially that the odd tire is about an inch smaller in diameter. One corner of the truck has thus been sitting half an inch lower, which neither you nor the suspension will have noticed. That tire has had to spin a bit faster, but I'm not having an easy time imaging a scenario where that would do damage either... maybe if you had a locking differential and you drove it for a long time, on dry pavement, with the drive wheels locked -- which you would never do.

My read on is that it's an honest mistake, no harm done, and they're trying to make good.
posted by jon1270 at 4:02 AM on August 23, 2008

I wouldn't give them any more business. I bought quite a few tires over the years, and the shop would know what the factory tire size was. The least they could have done was take a look at the lettering on your existing tires, or the one they replaced.

That said, I think it's unlikely to damage the truck. Possibly the handling.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 4:10 AM on August 23, 2008

argh. i'd just ask for a refund for your first, erroneous purchase IN FULL and use that as a starting point to go someplace competent to get your new tires. if they don't refund your money when it's clearly their fault and clearly a safety hazard, then shame on them and post 'em on consumerist.com to call 'em out for laziness and fraud.
posted by citystalk at 5:00 AM on August 23, 2008

Kvetching about the business aside, is the truck 4WD? The only time you need to worry about a mismatched tire size is in the case that it's got a differential between two oddly-sized tires. If not, it's seriously not a big issue.
posted by TheNewWazoo at 5:51 AM on August 23, 2008

On the front of your rear-wheel drive truck, having mismatched tires will do no harm (unless it caused the handling to feel odd, but you would have noticed that a long time ago).

On the rear, bad things could happen — the mismatched tires mean that while you are going in a straight line the tires are rotating at different speeds, putting a lot more wear and tear on your differential. (If it's a limited slip differential, there is potential damage if the tire sizes are different enough, too.) Your truck has an overengineered differential, and probably nothing bad has happened, but it is a possibility that you have to consider if the small tire was on the rear axle for any length of time.

Personally I wouldn't give that place any of my business, unless they were willing to pay for a mechanic of my choosing (absolutely not their own mechanic!) to open up the rear differential, check that everything is ok in there, and change the fluid. A lot of tire places offer "four for the price of three" promotions every so often if you watch their ads, so they aren't really offering you anything very exceptional — I'm not impressed with their follow up here.
posted by Forktine at 6:32 AM on August 23, 2008

If the truck has 4WD, it's a traditional 4WD, and you shouldn't have had any ill effects. Cars with AWD systems like Subarus are quite intolerant of differing wheel/tire sizes and can blow up nastily.
posted by zsazsa at 9:46 AM on August 23, 2008

jon1270 writes "As to damage, the difference is essentially that the odd tire is about an inch smaller in diameter. One corner of the truck has thus been sitting half an inch lower, which neither you nor the suspension will have noticed. That tire has had to spin a bit faster, but I'm not having an easy time imaging a scenario where that would do damage either... maybe if you had a locking differential and you drove it for a long time, on dry pavement, with the drive wheels locked -- which you would never do."

Ironically the new smaller tire might have been a better fit than the correct tire depending on how worn the other tire was.
posted by Mitheral at 10:43 AM on August 23, 2008

Related item from the Click and Clack which might be useful…
posted by Dick Paris at 12:53 PM on August 23, 2008

Response by poster: The Tire company has offered Gillete Timberline A/Ts as an alternative. I haven't found any record of this company existing in the last 11 years. Any insight?
posted by isopropyl at 1:13 AM on August 26, 2008