Dumbest automotive comments you've read or heard?

I went down the YouTube rabbit hole last night and found a video of a guy talking about the pro's and con's of running 35" tires on a Tundra.

He actually said that a 35" MT tire is more likely to rub than a 35" AT tire because "the lugs are taller".



I commented that if both tires are the same width and diameter, then tread design has nothing to do with whether they will rub or not. He replied that I was wrong.

I've heard some ignorant statements over the years involving vehicles, but that one was just impossible to explain without paper and crayons.

Another great one involving tires...

I was walking through the parking lot into work when I spotted this tire on an F150 a couple of months ago...



I tracked down the young lady that owned the pickup and told her that her tire was not safe to drive on and to put the spare on. She said that her boyfriend said it was fine for another paycheck or so since the other side had plenty of tread...

Let's hear your automotive wisdom fails!

 

I had a Chevy service advisor try to tell me my truck broke down because I put new wheels and tires (same size as stock size) on. He claimed the wheel speed sensors were confused. I told him he was a moron and it was fuel related. GM bought that truck back eventually.

 

It’s not as dumb as you think mountain man. Generally 265/70/17 tires measure 31.6” for most. My coopers measure 31.9” per cooper. Not sure which 35s he was talking about but that can absolutely be true.

 

35s

 

No, it is dumb. He was not talking about the variation in dimensions of various tires depending on brand. He specifically said that mud tires are more likely to rub because the lugs are taller. They are not. The lugs are deeper and wider spaced. The overall dimension is not affected.

 

They might be right about some MTs. Remember these useless things? "Thornbirds" The wrong tire for every terrain, I swear. The side lugs alone did more damage to the truck than to the terrain.

 

Pretty sure that is an scale RC version.

 

Heck ya! On a nice set of weld wheels - that’s the &$@! right there!



And yep, aggressive muddies with their knobbly protuberances can create clearance issues where an AT would fit - mostly when turning and flexing the suspension.

Edit - I should add that tires are measured by their section width, not tread width, so it is perfectly possible to have two tires the same width with different tread widths.

Also, as illustrated above, tire sizes are approximate size classes - like wrestling weight classes. The tire can be anywhere in that range and still be considered that size. So height is often different. And since mid terrains often have deeper tread depth, if they are designed around the same carcass, they can indeed be taller with taller lugs than the same size all terrain tire.

 

I was working at a gas station when in my teens and a young girl drove up to the self serve island in a VW bug. I was only partially paying attention but realized that she had been fueling the rear. I raced out there before she could turn the ignition key and asked her where she had filled up with gas? She showed me…it was the oil fill tube on the engine. I showed her where the gas fill tube was, which is in the front and told her that cranking the ignition could turn her car into a bomb. We pushed it to the parking area and dealt with it…
Don’t remember if she was a blonde….

 

What I posted was the same brands of tires, Just at’s vs MT’s. I agree with him.

 

Yeah, YouTube guy is absolutely right about MTs vs ATs. MTs can be a bit bigger in the same size. It’s not just tire diameter; more aggressive shoulder lugs can make the tire a bit wider, too.

 

Where to start. People have all kinds of very bad automotive advice.
1. You must always run the tire at the sidewall rating or the warranty is void. The max inflation pressure
2. If you brakes get hot, that means that they are defective. You should always be able to touch your brakes.
3. Thicker oil is always better.
4. Hydrogen generators will make more power than they take to operate.
5. Torque and horsepower are not related.
6. You don't need horsepower to tow.
7. Low range gives you more power.
8. Diesels don't make heat.
9. Waxed cars get better gas mileage.
10. Shocks will change the ride height of your car.
11. Automakers go out of their way to make sure that people can't work on their cars. They want the dealers to make money.
12. All oil specifications are 100% reverse compatible.
13. Oil companies have made it impossible to make a car that gets really good gas mileage.
14. A bigger engine will always last longer than a small engine.
15. Aluminum blocks don't hold up.
16. The bigger the car, the safer it is.
17. If the car does not pull, the alignment must be good.
18. Snow tires really don't make that much of a difference.
19. If a tire is not M/S rated, it will be bad in the rain.
20. Modern engines are not as hard on oil as the older engines.
21. Foreign cars are no better than domestic. The people who own them are just afraid to tell you they have problems.
22. A smaller displacement engine will get better mileage.
23. Automotive emissions are so minor that adding emission controls really did not make much of a difference.
24. Leaded gas was because they needed it to lubricate the valves.
25. Timing chains will never require maintenance.
26. Synthetic motor oil will cause leaks.
27. ABS cars will stop faster than non-ABS cars.

I am sure that I will think of more as the day goes on....

 

Gas stations add water to their gas. They mix in a little soap so that the water says in suspension.
If we make guns illegal then shootings will stop.... had to throw that one out there

 

OK, lets try to reach some common ground...

Yes, actual tire diameter and width does vary among manufacturers within the same size. In some cases, the same manufacturer has different actual sizes according to tread pattern and models. This is absolutely true.

Also, when an MT tire is too big and rubs, it makes more noise and can cause more damage than an AT tire that is too big and rubs. This is because the lugs are more aggressive and can catch on metal and plastic body edges easier. I think we can all agree on that.

However, what is also true is that just because a tire is an MT, it is not necessarily larger in diameter and width than the same size tire from the same manufacturer.

For example, this is a Firestone Destination AT2 in 285/70/17.



According to Firestone, it has an overall diameter of 32.8"...



Now, the same tire that Firestone sells in the same size, but is an MT is the Destination MT2 in 285/70/17...



It has the exact same diameter as the Destination AT...



So, both tires are the exact same diameter and the tread will be the exact same distance away from rubbing on both tires. Saying that an MT tire is more likely to rub than an AT tire simply because of a more aggressive tread design defies physics and logic.

 

Ans thats probably when they stopped allowing people to pump their own gas.

 

There may be some that are truly the exact same size. But it’s hard to know which companies simply list nominal sizes and which ones measure the tire and list the actual size. Some models run notoriously small (KO2 37s, for example). But here are a few for you whose MTs and ATs differ slightly in the same nominal size.

These are just are a few examples I looked up in 35x12.5 R17. This also might be news to you, but a nominal 35” tire is usually around 34.5” in diameter. However, there are differences between MT and AT models from the same company:

Goodyear
Duratrac (AT) 34.5”
MT/R with Kevlar 34.8”

Hankook
Dynapro AT2 34.5”
Dynapro MT2 34.7”

Mickey Thompson
Baja Boss AT 34.49”
Baja Boss MT 34.76”

Nitto
Recon Grappler AT 34.53”
Trail Grappler MT 34.84”

It is simply not true that different models of the same nominal size tires from the same company must be the same actual size. No one is “violating the laws physics”.

 

^^^ Correct, He’s really reaching here…

 

Before joining this forum I never knew what a touchy subject tires were.

 

How dare you

 

Can I use 5w30 without rubbing?

 

Too many to list.

The one thing I will add that always annoys me is anyone that says "spring tension" when 99/100 times that is the completely wrong term.

 

I hate “spring tension “. I get so tense knowing how much pollen is going to fall on my vehicles in a month.

 

I could be mistaken here, and that's highly probable given I've had a grand total of 20 hours of sleep this week, but are you contradicting yourself here?

Anecdotal evidence of the MT lug rub is 100% true in my case.

 

The hype about EV's.

 

I’m pretty sure once you have added oil it’s too late to avoid rubbing.

 

I’ll take coilover preload for 500, Mr. Trebek

 

I dunno, but I think this one may rank up there pretty high.

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What's the biggest oil I can run?

 

Depends on whether you're rubbing yourself with 5w30.