I own a 2005 Chevy Uplander Van. I had some difficulty finding specific winter tires to buy to fit my 17 inch rims. Nothing in stock where I live in Alberta Canada. Presently I have all season P22560R17 tires with 52,000 kms.

Question: If you install tires with different tire specs, do you have to reset that portion of information on the vehicle computer?

It would make sense to me that the computer would have to some how know the difference on tire specs from what was original in order to correctly operate the anti-lock brakes and perhaps shift the transmission properly.

I recently discussed this matter with another person who owns a 2004-2005 GMC pickup and he changed his tire specs from the original factory tires Afterwards he was experiencing a clunking type sound when the vehicle shifted, checked with his Dealer and they reset the computer to account for the tire spec change and the problem disappeared.

I checked with my own Dealership and they seemed to know nothing about changing any computer settings to suit changes in tire specifications.

I am not a mechanic, however, with the present day role that a computer plays in vehicle now, it would not suprise me if it were true that the computer could needed to know tire specs in order to "run" the vehicle efficiently.

If anyone has heard or experienced such a scenario, I would appreciate your comments.