Winter tyres

[Sebi]

I want to ask if somebody can advise me if I can use 225x55x18 winter tyres on a Toyota RAV4 2020reg. Existing summer tyres are 225x60x18

One of my friends have four of them and I am trying to save some money as I will travel abroad for a week

Many Thanks

[Cyker]

If you plug them into https://tiresize.com/comparison/ you can compare the sizes.

According to that your speed will be off by roughly 1mph at 30mph and 2 at 60 and losing half an inch of ride height.

I'm not sure if that's outside the limits of error, but I'm sure someone will post to inform us  

[philip42h]

The error is in the 'right' direction - i.e. assuming that the speedometer is correct in the first place, when the speedometer reads 60mph you'll actually be travelling at 58mph. Importantly, the speedometer must never give a reading that is less that the actual speed.

In practice, the speedometer probably overstates your speed by around 5% (by design). So, adding another 3.3% overstatements will take you to an error of around 8.3% - which is less than the nominal 10% error that is allowed. So, from that perspective it would probably be OK rather than a "no, no".

Whether your insurance company would be happy with the fitment of non-standard tyres is a separate question - you should probably ask them, but you may not like the answer. 😉

[Flatcoat]

Because the tyres give a slightly smaller rolling radius and therefore circumference, in theory your fuel consumption could be increased. However given the size might not be to the car manufacturers size specification I advise you to check the insurance situation OR with Toyota directly and in writing. 

 

[Sebi]

Thank you all for your advice. I cannot see a problem using this tyres

 

[Flatcoat]

8 hours ago, Sebi said:

Thank you all for your advice. I cannot see a problem using this tyres

 

Erm….. why did you ask? 

[Sebi]

Hi Flatcoat,

I took notice of all comments. What I meant is that the fuel increase is negligible and the error on speedometer is acceptable. For this reason I may travel with this tyres. I still have time to take a decision as I will leave on the 29th of December

[Flatcoat]

For what it’s worth I use all season tyres so if and when we go to those countries requiring their use, we are legal and without last minute expensive tyre purchases. 

[Mojo1010]

Unless there is a set of wheels to go with the winters, it's an expense to swap over tyres each time ~ £60. 

[Guest]

I wouldn't chance the wrong size. Who knows what problems could arise. For the sake of saving money, I don't think it's worth your risk. 

Remember, if you do have an accident, the first thing any insurance company will do is send out somebody to assess the vehicle and if they find incorrect tyre size, that's the precise sort of excuse they'll grasp to to leave you out of pocket and potentially liable without their help for damages for others involved and their property. 

[Flatcoat]

6 minutes ago, SB1500 said:

I wouldn't chance the wrong size. Who knows what problems could arise. For the sake of saving money, I don't think it's worth your risk. 

Remember, if you do have an accident, the first thing any insurance company will do is send out somebody to assess the vehicle and if they find incorrect tyre size, that's the precise sort of excuse they'll grasp to to leave you out of pocket and potentially liable without their help for damages for others involved and their property. 

Not without something in writing from Toyota approving their use. 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Flatcoat said:

Not without something in writing from Toyota approving their use. 

if you could obtain this, that would help. 

I asked Toyota about alloy sizes for my Avensis. Despite 16" and 18" options being available from factory across the specs, Toyota told me 'we cannot advise fitting any other size than the original' - that's what they told me! They'll usually stick to the safest ground for liability reasons so it might be hard to obtain that.