[Update 5] Shop installed the wrong tires.. Need some advice

You can extrapolate from the calculator. I would put them to 31 psi. They are not rated below 35, but they are still safe there. The tires gain about 42 lbs of strength per 1 psi in the 30s range. So their minimum is 2,105 lbs at 35 psi, and you need 1929 lbs based on the stock tires.

2,105-1,929 = 176 extra pounds of capacity per tire. 176/42 comes out to right at 4 psi to lower it by.

35 is definitely too high on SLs and you did good by dropping it to 27 while you have them. People really don't understand tires or pressure, including tire shops.

 

alright gents, I posted another update (Update 3) on the original post. Consider this your trigger warning

 

This is super helpful, I'm for sure going to find myself coming back to this post again for reference

 

I just read the OP's update 3...wow!

After a similar issue as the OP...wrong tire installed...I stopped ordering tires through tire shops.
The past few years I've ordered tires for my rigs and my kids' rigs through on-line vendors (tirebuyer, etc.)
They're delivered right to my driveway and I take the loose wheels/tires to the local shop for mount and balancing (this also eliminates the shops "over-torquing" the lug nuts). Finally, a trip to my alignment guy and I'm done.

Cheers

 

This is the way. Unfortunately, I've had to learn that lesson this time through this horrible experience

 

And that wasn't Ford's first go around with indifference over poor design causing fatalities. I give you, the Pinto:

 

I use tire shop to install/change out winter tires/ allseason for summer on my wife's car. Its easier than messing with jack, jack stands, chocks and wrenches for me. Yes I have to check /adjust air pressures and lug torque but it's better for me. In my opinion owners should always have a quick but thorough look at what was done by shop work before driving away. The brand, model , and tire size is one of them. Shops do make mistakes but relatively few for the number of vehicles they work on.

 

A Poor mans mustang

 

My Aunt and Uncle bought one...my Cousin beat the living shit out of it, couldn't kill it. Just don't get rear-ended and you're fine.

 

This really can't get any worse you guys. The lip of 3/4 of my wheels is all marred up from when the tires were unmounted. I would imagine they rushed through the process because this time it was at their cost.

 

Just enjoy you have the right tires now. Take a sharpie to it and move along…

 

yeah I'm not going to try and get new wheels out of it or anything. But I am pretty upset that the wheels are now damaged and it wasn't my own doing. I can live with damaging my own shit, but to have a professional shop do it is something else. Especially when there was an extra charge added on specifically to avoid damage to the wheels and tires (should have been $30/wheel but charged $50/wheel). This was on the invoice from when the older mud tires were removed, and there didn't appear to be any damage done when the first set of SL tires were put on. This happened when they did the second swap to correct their mistake.

 

It’s all up to you but if your wheels were in perfect condition I would be going back. Now on the other hand if you are an off roader then they will get scratched first time out anyway.

 

What kind of mounting machine did they use? Was it a newer style wheel mounting machine? Or the older style where they still were using a spoon to get the tire on the wheel?

 

i know they will get scuffed up eventually, but that's partly why i kept the old mud tires. i can put those on another set of wheels that i don't really care as much about and use those on if i'm going somewhere where the terrain is likely to be making contact that far up the side

 

that I do not know. I can ask when I head up there tomorrow (assuming they have the spare ready). I found out after leaving the truck with them the first time that they don't even have the shit to do it themselves. They have a partner shop that they essentially sub-contract the wheel/tire mount & balancing to.

 

It will probably cause me backlash for saying this but if it was my truck with you not using them for off road use I would make them replace with new wheels especially after charging you extra to not damage them.

 

I can't imagine this going over well, especially since I didn't take up-close before pictures. I never thought I'd be in this situation and therefore didn't think to do that but surely this was my painful learning experience.


EDIT: I do think I could probably repair / cover-up the minor blemishes with some sort of epoxy or something. The one that has the big gash though, I think that'd be one that I could see being worth arguing a replacement over.. I'm not sure if that one would actually be problematic if, say, I'm aired down to a real low PSI and the tire is then more likely to rub on the sharp part of that gash. Any thoughts?

 

yeah true, I'll have to do some homework on the best approach to do that. I'm thinking a few carefully applied layers of JB weld might be the move but hard to say. I haven't looked into it all yet

 

They’re lots of mobile wheel repair guys out there but that will cost you $. I still think it’s worth going by the tire shop and see what they have to say about it you never know if you don’t ask.