Lost a tire - should I replace 1 or 2 - now at 18K m ileage

Re: Lost a tire - should I replace 1 or 2 - now at 18K m ile

My suggestion would be to replace two, with the new ones up front.

 

There are better choices about the same price as the Integrety, I liked the Goodrich T/A, the T speed rated one was $52 at TireRack (vs $49 for Integrety) or Kumho ECSTA HP4 716 was $42. Either of these tires should give you much better performance, I think the Goodrich is an excellent value with a 60K warranty and good reviews across the board.

I would decide to replace one or two based on how much usable tread you have left, but replacing 2 or 4 is of course better.

 

Re: Lost a tire - should I replace 1 or 2 - now at 18K m ile

Just wondering what's the prevailing wisdom on running two tires of one make on the front and two tires of another make on the back?

It seems to me it might have some effect on the handling.

 

Ideal is to have same type, design, and tread wear on all 4 wheels. It's acceptable to replace 1 tire with a different make, tire shops do it all the time without additional liability.

Tire with more wear should go on front to prevent oversteer and spinning out in wet conditions. New tires on the back. Some installers will insist on this for safety (most don't):

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tec...e.jsp?techid=52

 

I have had the OEM's and two replacement tires, the first being Bridgestone Turanza's. I turned in these howlers within the 30 day free trial period because of the increased noise and 18% drop in fuel economy.

I have run Goodyear Comfortreds for nearly five thousand miles now. Worth every cent, does reduce felt vibration and is very quiet.

Test drove an Avalon a few weeks ago, brand new '05. Did not ride as quiet or as nice as my Prius with the Comfortreds.

 

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yep, it's almost always best to have the newer tires on the rear. keeps the rear end planted on turns and prevents it from passing you in the turn (extreme oversteer). picture the worst case of good tires in front and baldies in the back. any turn on anything but smooth, dry pavement will likely have the car spin out. that's why the best tread or stickiness should be in front.

as for mixing tires, etc., for cars with limited-slip differentials, unless the two different brands or models of tire have exactly the same rolling diameter, the mixed pair will spin a different number of revolutions per mile on average, and will cause wear or damage to the limited slip parts.

on a prius, if the rolling diameters are different enough, i'd even guess that it might confuse the traction control system under certain circumstances.... right or left turns, for example, and the warning beeps or changes in power, etc., might really mess you up when you don't want to be messed up!

best is two replacement tires on the back and move the old ones to the front. almost always.

+af

 

My tire guy always puts the two new tires on the front of my front-wheel-drive cars. That's where the tires showing the most wear were - and thus needed to be replaced. Have we been doing it wrong?

 

I'd also say put new tires in the front, or if the older ones happen to have better traction, put those there. Here's why I believe this:

PlusAf makes a good point about spinout, but ABS should help here, and if you have VSC, you shouldn't spin out at all. Most of your braking is going to occur in the front, especially general braking where pure regen braking is used. Regen braking only occurs on the front. If the car does detect a problem with the back tires, it will activate ABS and/or VSC and prevent any problems.

Besides braking, consider acceleration. This is a front drive vehicle with an agressive traction control. You want the best tires in front so that TC activation is minimized.

 

This doesn't make sense:<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(plusaf\";p=\"90363)</div>

You can't put them on both the rear and front if you only replace 2!
I would ask the tire place which tires would go well with the remaining Integritys. Usually you worry about them trying to 'sell up' to a more expensive tire but if you want higher end tires anyway, they'll be happy to sell them to you if the tires can coexist on the car.

I wouldn't go for the Goodyear TTs in So Cal unless you live in the mountains and get a lot of snow. The CTs will be better fo you. I just got a set for my wife's Subaru Legacy wagon. The TTs have much larger diagonal grooves, great for grabbing snow but they do have more 'road feel' on degraded road surfaces.

Another possibility is: Is there a market for used tires with decent tread left? Someone who maybe can't afford a new set to replace their baldies and would be willing to buy the 3 Integritys for maybe $50 or $75? Then you can replace all four rather than being in a perverbial state of switching 2 and wondering if you might be causing problems.

 

the recomendation for putting the better tires on the rear is questionable to me. front tires wear faster that is the reason why rotation (front to rear swaps) is advised every 5,000 miles to even the wear on all 4 tires. considering that most of your braking needs (besides regen of course) is on your front tires, better tread should be on the front. and yes most definitely replace the tires in pairs. keep the other good tire as a replacement should one of the other tires blow out on you.

 

Conventional thinking would be to put the best tires on the front since they do most of the work. In good conditions, you would get better performance. The reasoning isn't for conventioanl wisdom, it's for emergency handling in poor condiitions. The Tire rack link from above explains it in great detail:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tec...e.jsp?techid=52

TC, ABS, and VSC are great tools but I see them as a "last line of defense" and try to not let them engage. If I see an ABS or VSC indicator, I determine why and adjust my driving to prevent another occurance. Since they can't defeat Physics, I like to keep a comfortable safety margin!

 

What a great article! I'll remember it next time I need new tires.

You may have saved lives by that posting, gschoen.

Thanks!

 

i read the article and i still question the validity of what they claim. are they now saying that rotating tires are not recomended at all?

also, i agree with their claim that oversteer is more of a problem than understeer but what about the fact that the front tires act as a break for the water on the road. they should always encounter more water because they break the puddle leaving less water for the back tires to have to negotiate. also the fact that rear tires are pulled into the puddle tells me that they will slip less... now i dont have a track to test any of this but this seems to go against a lot things i have heard about tires in the past.