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Would You Buy A Tire That Is 1pt Under The Average Tire Load Rating?

1K views 12 replies 8 participants last post by  ShadowDancer 
#1 ·
Local Rim & Sound Shop is going out of business.
They have a 235/60/18's Continentals with factory stickers still on them. Date code shows they're about 2 years old.
Manager said he'd be willing to part with the entire set for under $300. Hard to pass a deal like that up.
However, the wrinkle is that the load rating is 102.

Everything I have ever seen shows 103 being the minimum on the XC90, however, according to this site the Michelin 102 rated were offered for period: https://www.volvotechinfo.com/index.cfm?event=genuineParts.TireChart

XC90 3.2 and V8 STD 08-11 235/60 R18 102 V Michelin MICH 94200 Pilot HX MXM4
NOTE: A limited number of MY2009 XC90's were delivered with Pirelli Scorpion Zero tires 235/60 R18 103H MSPN# 1755800

Is 102 safe to run, or would you take a pass?
 
#5 ·
I've owned cars and know I can get away with it depending on what I plan to be doing with the car.
But this is the first SUV I've owned. I was wondering is this was a no go with heavier vehicles.
Checking with the audience before I go with my gut (and my penchant for being cheap at times. LOL!)
 
#4 ·
No way!
Although I hate seeing local small businesses going out of business. Seeing the look of anguish and disappointment on an owners face can be soul wrenching.
Feels like I'm picking at the bones.
 
#6 ·
I don't like being cheap on tires. Frankly you'd be fine in most driving situations.. but I'd bet the reason for most of them having the min extra 50# is for the one time things aren't going as planned. It's not hard to imagine near 50% weight transfer to a front tire in a panic maneuver. I wouldn't want to risk that for a few hundred bucks over 30-40k worth of miles. But if your car does roll over because of a bad tire, at least you're still in a Volvo....
 
#9 ·
The OEM tire on the car came with the Michelin 102 rating, so like Tommm says, if they are the correct size, I would get them.

We have had 2 sets of the Conti cross contact LX20 SUV tires on our Volvo and so far they have been the longest wearing and we are on set number 6 overall on the car.
 
#11 ·
The bad news is I went back to get them the other day and after a look at the two on the bottom of the stack, I noticed they were a bit old. 5 years to be exact.
And one looked as if the sidewall was speared, but not penetrated, a forklift blade or something. Chose to take a pass.

However, he pointed me to a fresh set of Nankangs. I know, I know ... the name screams "Who?" or "junk from Asia."
But he made me aware the shop was selling a ton of their sport tires to the "low profile, lowered, stanced and stretched" kiddies. Apparently their design and sidewalls are great for this sort of them. However, what piqued my interest was when I was told the company has been decades long partners with Yokohama. Among other things they share, whenever Yoko comes up with a new tire / tire formulation that replaces a model, the old design is passed off to Nan who manufacturers, and sells it under their banner. I'm not opposed to riding on last year's news for the right price.

My driving demands lately do not accrue much mileage. I think I racked up a whopping 10,000 miles over the past 14 months. So with all this in mind, for $250 out the door for 4 new tires with Yokohama behind them, I was willing to take the risk.

If they're awful, I'm not out much money. Sell them on $150 and cut my losses and get something else.
If they're not great, I'll live with them for about 10,000 miles.
And if they're acceptable, I made a smart purchase.

I'll probably get them mounted later this month. In the meantime, I'm going to burn up the last of the meat on my Goodyear Assurances. Maybe have enough tread on one of the back ones leftover to make a decent spare.
 
#13 ·
We'll see. Inexpensive doesn't mean horrid. The Nokians were on Amazon for $97/per last year.

Nonetheless, my driving needs don't require a premium tire at the moment. I'm doing a lot more Metro & MARC as of late.
DC traffic while the houses are in session, and the influx of people coming for jobs at Amazon HQ2, plus major work on the BW Parkway and Rte 66 has made traffic utterly insane. Just plain Miserable.

The XC has probably done a total of 56 miles over 5 days, so I was willing to compromise.

Call me a test subject. I'll report back periodically.
 
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