But where's the logic?

[TortoiseAWD]

Originally Posted by SpoiledMan

Hey, they rotate them for free. I'm there every 7499. Hoping for a sell? Probably. He's got the wrong guy though. There really isn't any significant wear difference between the front and rear as the pressure is always kept up and they're rotated regularly.

Yeah, sounds like maybe he was jerking you around. Or was just lazy, didn't want to do the rotation, and used that as the excuse.

Tort

[Setec Astronomy]

Originally Posted by JohnnyDaJackal

I though they're policies we're a little weird too. My RSX comes with V rated tires, and I asked them to "price" tires for them while waiting for my mom's car. They had a nice set of Potenzas but since they we're the rating below, they said they can't sell them to me. I said considering the speed limits, it doesn't matter if one is rated to 120mph or 130mph, but they said they still need to meet the manufacturer's rating.

LOL! Either they are idiots or really smart! A quick search shows C/D reporting a 2005 Type-S drag-limited at 136 mph...your 2003 base model with significantly less HP and revs, although slightly longer gearing...I doubt is going to bust 130. Since V rating = 149 and H rating = 130...V is really overkill on your car, and H should be fine. Without going into a long story, GM got in trouble back 20+ years ago for not equipping their cars with tires that would handle the speed...so now they just shut the fuel injectors off at the speed rating of the tires. So they could just be idiots at Costco and just following some dumb procedure about like-for-like replacement, or they could actually have checked the top speed of the car somehow and decided the H's weren't safe. I'd vote for the idiocy.

[TortoiseAWD]

The biggest benefit to higher speed ratings isn't the ability to travel at the rated speed for any amount of time (something none of us would probably ever do except at a track); it's that the stiffer sidewalls and overall construction on V and Z tires allows better cornering.

I've run H rated snows on my WRX before. I'm surprised I survived.

Tort

[Setec Astronomy]

Tort--although there is a direct relationship between sidewall stifness and speed rating, I don't know how you can compare the handling of a snow tire to a performance tire

PS And of course a higher speed rating is going to give you greater margin for hot weather/underinflation--Tire Rack I believe does not recommend the use of tires with less than an H speed rating for summer use, as a general statement (which is actually kind of a bizarre general statement, considering the preponderance of S, T, & U rated tires on the road).

[TortoiseAWD]

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

Tort--although there is a direct relationship between sidewall stifness and speed rating, I don't know how you can compare the handling of a snow tire to a performance tire

Setec,

I was joking around (note smiley face).

Tort