New law concerning changing wheels

[Q45tech]

New Legislation from:http://www.tirereview.com/?type=art&id=5278&

Finally, you should be aware of some new legislation regarding the installation of aftermarket wheels and non-OE tires on a new vehicle that hasn’t been titled yet. The new rule, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard #110, which took effect Sept. 1, 2005, states that if you “alter” a new vehicle by installing different tires or wheels, you must place a new tire inflation and load capacity placard over the original to indicate the new front/rear/spare air pressures to the buyer.

SEMA has compiled recommendations to help you avoid any problems that may arise due to differing interpretations of the ruling. You can order the placards from various label makers.

If you are interested in getting this information, feel free to contact me, and I will direct you to several companies compiled by NHTSA. This standard applies to changes in the vehicle’s weight capacity, as well. If you install products that add weight to the vehicle, you will need to indicate the new weight capacity of the vehicle, which will be the manufacturer’s listed weight less the amount you added. NHTSA does allow for a 0.5% deviation of the gross vehicle weight rating without replacing the placard, but this may change in the coming months.

This law should be made to apply to owners and shops after vehicle is sold and when ever a used car is traded/sold

Add just 20 pounds to a 3999 pound vehicle and you are required to design and change the placard............after market wheels or chroming oem wheels, or audio system [sub woofer]...............new car dealers beware!

[elwesso]

That was a GREAT read tech... Thanks a bunch...

Maybe you could clarify something. On my tires it says MAX LOAD 1521@51 PSI on the sidewall. however in the article, it says that the MAX LOAD is calculated at the factory PSI, in these cases, at 35PSI cold... However, if you look at this picture, you will see that it sorta lists them as 2 different things.

So I ask, what pressure is the load index calculated from? Is it at the MAX pressure? Is that why some tire companies offer extra load rating tires by simply increasing their max inflation.. Meaning they can make the tire pretty much the same but offer it in a 95 or a 99 load rating, with a 44 or 51 psi max inflation, respectively....

[szh]

Hi, Wes.

Per the Tire and Rubber Association ("TRA") Handbook, load index is generally stated at 35psi for P-metric (Passenger) Standard Load ("SL") tires. This was an old standard developed for 44psi max pressure tires, and has not been updated, AFAIK, for newer 51psi max pressure tires.

So, for all intents and purposes, a SL tire with 95 load index still means "1521 lbs at 35psi" (for most tires, although it can be lower - at 1499 and 1510 lbs - for a few tire sizes), with appropriate derating below that pressure.

An Extended or Extra Load ("XL") tire is measured at 41psi by the way, so you have to be very careful to recognize that an XL tire with a load index of 95 means "1521 lbs at 41psi". This is quite different from an SL tire! Hence, that article has a very good point about how to recognize the actual load capacity of the tire.

I have tire tables that demonstrate this information for a given tire size, although it is a bit out of date now (I have not yet sprung for the latest Handbook from the TRA - I should do that!).

Z

[szh]

Very interesting impact on changing tires! Nice read, Dennis.

We are going to see some interesting legislation about this, clearly.

Z

[elwesso]

Z, we made another thread in the Q45 forum about this: I should probably turn this into an article sometime!

zerothread/172914

In that thread, Tech talked to a guy from michelin stating that you generally want to inflate a tire to 80% of its max COLD. So a 44PSI tire would be inflated to 35, and a 51 to 41 PSI...

[Q45tech]

Before you let anyone ride in a modified vehicle you should give them written notice that the vehicle is modified and does not conform to oem design standards and they agree to hold you harmless and not to sue you if any accident occurs.

Tires, wheels, brake pads, rotors suspension mods anything that might add weight to a vehicle or change the performance.

Never date the "weight challenged" without at fuel surcharge. [Just kidding].http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/