Changing Tires & Voiding Warranty

[fotodad]

I'd like to get rid of my factory Bridgestone tires and get a set of Michelin Pilot A/Ss. But Michelin's closest size to fit on the Solara factory rims are 225/55-17 (factory tires are 215/55-17). After talking with folks on this discussion board, local tire dealers, and my Toyota dealer, I've been reassured the 225/55-17 Michelins will work just fine. But, just for the heck of it I called Toyota to see if upsizing the tires would void my warranty. The Toyota guy would not commit to an answer. All he said is Toyota recommends I maintain the current size tire. He would not say whether any warranties would be voided. That answer bothered me. I then asked him who would decide if the warranty is void if I did have something, say the suspension, break and I had on the Michelins. He said that the dealership would decide if something was in warranty or not. So I called the service department at my dealership and explained my dilema. He said he didn't think upsizing the tires would void any warranties. Again, he didn't commit.

What would you guys do? Get the Michelins and assume the dealership will work with me should I have a warranty issue. Or stick with the factory size and get a tire I would not be as happy with.

Right now Michelin has a $40.00 rebate on a set of Pilots. Don't want to wait long if I'm going to make the change.

Wow. Did that make any sense?

[cdssolara]

Get the Michelins in the larger size. I believe that as long as the overall diameter of the wheel and tire is within 4% of stock, it shouldn't effect any of the car's systems, such as ABS. As long as that's the case, I can't see any reason that it would affect the warranty. The guy from Toyota is giving you the most conservative answer possible. I would think it would be very hard for them to justify voiding a warranty due to your using tires that are that close to stock size.

I believe that there was a thread on this forum some months ago, addressing the issue of car companies trying to void warranties because of aftermarket parts. Apparently, there is some protection for users of those parts, as long as they are comparable to OE parts. You can probaby find the thread with a Search.

[slingshot]

That's a big step up in tire quality for sure. Your tire size is minimally larger than stock. The only possible problem would be ABS and speedometer/odometer accuracy but I doubt that size difference would make much difference.

Check out this fantastic site to visually see comparisons of different tire sizes:

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

According to it, your Michelins will make your speedo read 60mph when you are really going 61 (speedo reading being 1.6% too slow). I call that minor.

More numbers:

Specification Sidewall Radius Diameter Circumference Revs/Mile Diff.
215/55-17 4.7in 13.2in 26.3in 82.7in 767 0.0%
225/55-17 4.9in 13.4in 26.7in 84.0in 754 1.6%

[slingshot]

Have you checked out the Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires or Dunlop SP Sport 5000? THe RS-A is the only other all-weather tire in stock size I think for this car and are $20/tire less than the Michelin Pilot A/S. The Dunlops are same size as the Pilots and $56/tire cheaper. But the Pilots I'm sure are better than either. The Dunlops though get pretty good ratings.

P.S. All prices taken from tirerack.com.

[fotodad]

That's a big step up in tire quality for sure. Your tire size is minimally larger than stock. The only possible problem would be ABS and speedometer/odometer accuracy but I doubt that size difference would make much difference.

Check out this fantastic site to visually see comparisons of different tire sizes:

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

According to it, your Michelins will make your speedo read 60mph when you are really going 61 (speedo reading being 1.6% too slow). I call that minor.

More numbers:

Specification Sidewall Radius Diameter Circumference Revs/Mile Diff.
215/55-17 4.7in 13.2in 26.3in 82.7in 767 0.0%
225/55-17 4.9in 13.4in 26.7in 84.0in 754 1.6%

Guys, thanks for the valuable info! I never even thought about the speedo and ABS issues. That one mile per hour difference isn't an issue for me, but having ABS messed up would definitely be a concern. Short of having the Michelins put on, how can I find out if the ABS is affected by the upsized tires?

[slingshot]

I've read about tire resizing issues on another forum (Infiniti's) and the 1.9% difference you are seeing made no change in the ABS working for them they said. It should probably translate to Toyota's too. Perhaps calling or emailing Toyota US headquarters?

[fotodad]

Perhaps calling or emailing Toyota US headquarters?

Good idea! And thanks for that tire sizing website. The visual really shows how little difference there is in size between the two.

[HKSV6SLE]

usually when you get bigger tires you need to have the size is bigger meaning...from 215/55 to 225/50...though keeping the 55 ratio the same should be fine, and voiding your factory warranty for just changing your tires is really dumb, i think the reason that the rep didnt give a straight answer cuz they don't want you to do it..

[cdssolara]

Guys, thanks for the valuable info! I never even thought about the speedo and ABS issues. That one mile per hour difference isn't an issue for me, but having ABS messed up would definitely be a concern. Short of having the Michelins put on, how can I find out if the ABS is affected by the upsized tires?

I believe that your new tire size would have to be at least 4-5% different from your stock tires to adversely impact your ABS. You shouldn't have a problem.

Look at it this way: On the Gen 1 Solara, stock tires for the SLE and some versions of the SEV6 were 205/60/16. The TRD tires were 225/45/17, which is a difference of 2.8%, according to the Miata tire calculator. You'd think that if Toyota was offering this as an option, without impacting the warranty, your tires shouldn't post any problem, either.