Does it matter?
Yes, I hope they put the mismatched tire set on the back since it's FWD. It's very important to run the exact same size tires on the drive axle or it will cause excessive wear and heat in the trans-axle / differential gears.
The new tire is 0.3 inch taller. If you can, I would have the new tire mounted on the rear. It's off a little, but not ready an issue.
EDIT: I really hope they replaced TWO tires and not just one. Especially since it's a different size.
The height of your new tire(s) are 4 millimeters (.157 inches) taller.
The width of your new tire(s) tread is 11 millimeters (.43 inches) narrower.
So basically your new tire(s) is/are almost half an inch skinnier, and just barely taller.
It's not that much of a difference, but I wonder why the mechanics decided to put different sizes on anyway. Also, what's important is that you have two of the same exact tires with same tread wear on the fronts and rears. You don't want two unequal tires in the front or rear or else you'll damage your car. It would be ideal to have the new tires up front, but conversely since your car is FWD, if you're going to have unequal width tires from front to rear, you want the wider tires in the front… so that's kind of a dilemma since your skinnier tires are your fresher tires.
So in that case, I'd go back to the shop and demand that they take out the new tires they put in and replace them with new tires of the same size and put them in the front.
Yes this is bad.. even though it seems minimal the new tire is narrower and shorter than the other tires. if the tire is in the front it will put a a strain on the transaxle and cause premature damage since both tires are traveling at the same speed the taller takes more time to get the same distance. Take the tire back and demand they fix it properly and NOW.
Yes is matters. The tire retailer simply install the incorrect tire size on your Altima. There is no reason why they should have done such. 215/60-16 is indeed the correct size for your Nissan. And are you saying they installed just one of the 205/65-16 sized tires? If so, that is doubly bad because you should never run odd sized tires on the same axle. Take it back, if they don't have your needed size in stock have them order it, or simply shop elsewhere.
They have books that tell them what tires fit on those rims so they have to follow that. So you may have 4 different tires that fit that rim. They gave you what they had in stock that was the closest.
no
I have a 2010 Nissan Altima with 215/60/r16 when I went to put a new tire cause mine popped they put 205/65/r16
Does it matter?
