Thanks VW dealership! They installed tires under rated for load

[Roby466]

I purchased a 2003 EV in Buffalo and drove it back here. The car was sold with brand new all season tires but as I was going to drive 1200 miles in winter condition I purchased a set of new winter tires. I was looking at the new all season that they put on the car at first and they are rated 97t for load. That has 44psi max pressure and 1609lbs load at that pressure.
What do I do? Do I put them on for the summer and see or will they fail? Is that dangerous?
Thanks for the advice. I can't really go back as I am now in Canada.
Thanks
David

[Zeitgeist 13]

Do you regularly drive with loads near the max weight limits, in either extreme heat or cold? The T-series vehicles were/are globally designed to carry very large loads in extreme temperature ranges. Their load ratings are designated very conservatively to reflect extreme ranges that most of us will never even remotely approach when using these vans here in NA. I wouldn't worry about it in the least.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Roby466]

Interesting, I guess that's right they might be rated for much more, especially with the GLS vs the camper version. Extreme heat, probably not, extreme cold, yep, but I have proper winter tires for that with proper load index.
I remember our old 94 GLS had a tire fail (ballooned on the sidewall) after a year or so and it had massively under rated load index so that's why it makes me worry a bit but it was also probably under inflated. (dealers are not too good to inflate them... when I got the car, they were all at 28psi)

[Abscate]

Dave...don’t sweat it and drive them like a sensible person and they will be fine. Ignore chest thumping from people here. Some think tires should be replaced every 5 years. They bought Skylab insurance, too.
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.ssS!

[markcm2]

Here's my data point on 94t/99/102 tires and long hot road trips from this thread(they failed). I would guess 97 would possibly survive a thrashing like this and should be fine for normal driving. I went with the eNtyre 102 for replacements because we are headed out for more hot long road trips but the 99 Falcons we had briefly were a more comfortable ride.:

[mvaska]

everyone will put under-rated tires on these vans.. you have to fight with retailers to put the proper load rated tires on.

i had several rapid failures (side walls just completely disintegrated) before i started wondering what the deal was and read about the load rating.

i do drive pretty hard.

[Roby466]

Alright! I sold the under rated tires and told the dealership to cover the difference between the sale price and cost of the proper tires installed. They agreed so I will be good!
I'm now driving on a set of Nokian eNtyre 2.0 rated 102H so I'm good!
Thanks for the advices
Cheers
David

[Broseph Stalin]

I went with a bit bigger tire on the '95 after a lift. 225/70/16. Hankook Dynapro AT-M 103T.

235/60/16 is a popular size but I wanted that bit extra .5" ground clearance. Hey, any little bit is fine with me.

A 103 tire I think has thicker, stronger plies, therefore more durable offroad going through rocks. That means you can air down some for better traction.

I wish I had a later model with traction control, one-wheel drive is a pain.
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'68 Bus in West Germany, 1977-1979
'67 Riviera poptop conversion in the US, 1984-1990
'95 EVC Winnie, 2018, Sold
'03 EVC Winnie, 2018, Sold