Can tire shop be sued for neglagence?
I had a tire blow out on the freeway & coasted off on exit to a tire shop (privately owned). They offered to sell me a used tire, mount & balance it. I agreed, the tire was put on. I paid them & left. Three hours later, in a parking lot, my new tire burst & I was broke down again! Apon changing the blown tire to the donut/ spare tire, my brother & I discovered the tire shop gave me the wrong size tire (they gave me a 60 R-14, my car has 65 R-14's), had forced it on the rim & not even securely tightened the lug nuts. I live in the state of Utah, can they be sued for this?
The '60' in the tire code is the aspect ratio - it is the height of the sidewall as a percentage of the width of the tire. It would have nothing to do with a tire bursting because of being the "wrong size".
The two size measurements that matter are the first, three digit number, which is the width, and the number after the 'R', which is the rim diameter.
Untightened lug nuts are a major safety hazard, but a) they wouldn't make the tire burst in a parking lot, and b) since the wheel didn't come off that would be VERY hard to prove.
Sounds more like the tire was defective, so your recourse will depend on what warranty they gave you.
Richard
