sellersrodshop
05-29-2012, 11:13 PM
something i don't ever see much discussion about & honestly, never thought much about myself, is tire load ratings. while checking prices & availability on new tires, i asked about one & the response was, "we prefer not to sell you this one, as the load rating on the tire doesn't meet your vehicle's specs". tire size is 245/40-18 & the rating was 93w. after doing a little research, it seems that almost all of the different tires in that size are rated the same at 93w, with a few extra load versions at 95w. the 93w is a 1433lb load index. first off, my car is barely 2600 lbs total, so how are the load indexes figured? are front to rear weight ratios figured in & are they factored somehow since there are 4 tires per car to spread the load? i'm curious as this seems to be a popular size in the PT world & know there are much heavier cars that are worked harder than mine will be & never hear much about this tire aspect. just wasn't sure just how important a safety factor this is in choosing tires or just a "C.Y.A." for the manufacturers. thoughts/opinions??