08 OEM Tires

[bcuinohio]

I test drove a 08 Camry LE 4 cylinder with AT a last week. When I was looking over the vehicle, I noticed that it came with V-rated tires. I can see putting them on the SE and 6 cylinder models but why would Toyota spec them on the basic 4 cylinder models? This was a huge turnoff to me. The tires only had a tread wear rating of 260.

[njerald]

Double post................

What's wrong with V rated? Top speed on the I4s is 128 mph as I remember.

Toyota would be stupid to put on T rated tires..............

The tires have a A Temp and A Traction rating.

Economy OEM tires don't have 600-800 treadwear ratings in my experience. You're going to get cheap.

You might want to look at the Versa!!!!!!!!!!

[bcuinohio]

Versa? No need to get nasty.


I never mentioned t-rated tires. I think that the base and the 4 cylinder LE would be fine with H-rated tires. I usually get over 100" of snow every year and I would love a set of Michelin Primacy MXV4s on there but sice Toyota specifies v-rated , most shops won't install them for me. H-rated is good to 130 MPH so they would work IMO.

[workerant]

Another reason could be mass purchase. This way it's easy on both Toyota and the tire maker.

Anyway...... OFF TOPIC.
Where is a good and trusty place to go to mount my tires? I want to get the Yokohama V4s from discounttire.com but they don't have anyone around my area to mount the tire. Last time I bought Walmart tires for my '94 Camry and they didn't do a good job. They balanced it twice and it still vibrate going high speed. I had to have someone trusty to re-balanced it and it was fine after. Anyway, I don't have that someone anymore so I have to find a trusty place to do it.

So far, I check into Costco and Walmart. With Costco you have to buy their tires and that cost about $120 more even with their $60 discount on getting 4 tires. Walmart, they charge $8.50 (mount) + $12.50(life time balance) = $21 per TPMS tires... so that's $21 * 4 = $84 but in the past they didn't do so great so I am looking for a more trusty and if possible cheaper place to install (or mount) my tires.

Thank guys.

(main reason I look at life time balance is so if they do screw up I can go back and have them do it again.. but their 1 time balance was $10)

[tammap]

I bought a 2002 Toyota Camry XLE 4 cylinder back in 02, my Camry came with a V- rated tires and all V6 Camry that year came with H-rated tires??? as a certified ASE master mechanic, this whole thing doesn't make any sense to me, so I decided to contact Toyota and none of them can give me a straight answer. When my set of OEM tires worn out at 40K, I replaced with a T-rated tires and 800 thread wear, traction A and temperature B, no noticeble change in handling and fuel economy seem to improved a bout 1/2 to 1 mile per gallon possibly due to lower rolling resistance tires, now the car has almost 100K and still has plenty of tread left . I can understand your concern bcuinohio, if you like the car, go for it don't let the car bother you. Just FYI Toyota quality is not the same anymore.

[CamrySExxx]

Originally Posted by njerald

Double post.

What's wrong with V rated? Top speed on the I4s is 128 mph as I remember.

Toyota would be stupid to put on T rated tires.

The tires have a A Temp and A Traction rating.

Economy OEM tires don't have 600-800 treadwear ratings in my experience. You're going to get cheap.

You might want to look at the Versa!

There you go. You used a little too many periods and exclamation marks.

[bcuinohio]

Originally Posted by tammap

I bought a 2002 Toyota Camry XLE 4 cylinder back in 02, my Camry came with a V- rated tires and all V6 Camry that year came with H-rated tires??? as a certified ASE master mechanic, this whole thing doesn't make any sense to me, so I decided to contact Toyota and none of them can give me a straight answer. When my set of OEM tires worn out at 40K, I replaced with a T-rated tires and 800 thread wear, traction A and temperature B, no noticeable change in handling and fuel economy seem to improved a bout 1/2 to 1 mile per gallon possibly due to lower rolling resistance tires, now the car has almost 100K and still has plenty of tread left . I can understand your concern bcuinohio, if you like the car, go for it don't let the car bother you. Just FYI Toyota quality is not the same anymore.

I ended up buying an Accord. Although the tire issue was a factor, The Honda had more bang for the buck. The LX-P had some nice features included and they had special financing. The Accord came with h-rated tires too. I have owned two Camrys and they were both nice rides. I had a 93 and a 99. Both had V6s. This time I was looking at four cylinders with current gas prices. I was also surprised to see how bad Consumer Reports rated the latest Camry V6. The other thing I like is no more timing belt on the 4s.