Mix & Match Tires?

Pinky · 10-13-06, 03:10 PM

Is it possible, or more to the point, advisable to mix tires? I have almost brand new Goodyear runflats on the front. It's going to be time for new ones on the back soon and I've heard good things about the Michelin Pilot Sport Zero pressure tire... I am wondering if I can mix them with the Goodyears on the front.

Suggestions?

Eric · 10-13-06, 04:46 PM

I have always been cautioned not to do this since you will have different handling characteristics with the different tires. If you drive in the rain you would have different response there as well. I have installed non-matching tires on other cars when I was a broke youngster but that was always on a non-sports car.

I actually just ordered four new tires for my 98 from Tire Rack even though all I needed was back tires. I did this because I'm changing brands and also because I'm changing to regular tires. But even if I were staying with run-flats, I would have ordered four tires.

Bioscache2 · 10-13-06, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric

I have always been cautioned not to do this since you will have different handling characteristics with the different tires. If you drive in the rain you would have different response there as well. I have installed non-matching tires on other cars when I was a broke youngster but that was always on a non-sports car.

I actually just ordered four new tires for my 98 from Tire Rack even though all I needed was back tires. I did this because I'm changing brands and also because I'm changing to regular tires. But even if I were staying with run-flats, I would have ordered four tires.

I would agree, this is the risk you run and it can be serious, especially the more aggressively you drive, which if your like the rest of us could be quite often.

Pac-man · 10-14-06, 12:15 PM

People run mixed matched tires all the time on many different types of vehicles and never have a problem. Happens at the drag strip, autocross, and on the street. I know guys that street race who run drag radials on the rear for extra grip and a more aggresive tread on the front for more grip in bad weather. All of these examples involve aggressive driving and I have never heard of a problem. The handling characteristics that where mentioned earlier are not so different that there would ever be a crash attributed to running miss matched tires, more like driver error. Of course a tire manufacturer would never advise to run miss matches because thay want to sell tires.

Patman · 10-14-06, 07:15 PM

When I first got my Corvette in August 2004 I noticed that the previous owner had put 275-40-17 tires up front, and I didn't like them (followed the ruts too much) plus I was worried about that size of front tire for the upcoming winter, so I went with a pair of Pirelli P Zero Nero all season tires up front in the stock size. I still had the runflats on the back. I drove it like this for more than a full year and over 20,000 miles, with no ill effects whatsoever. I drove in all weather conditions too, including rain and snow.

When the runflats wore out I replaced them with a matching pair of P Zero Neros.

I honestly noticed no real problems at all with running different tires up front all that time.

Pinky · 10-16-06, 12:23 PM

Hmmm...2 for, 2 against. I need a tiebreaker! (cough that might be my budget cough)

And me - drive aggressively? Only when some jackass is riding my rear bumper!

Seriously - it hardly ever rains here (5" a YEAR average) but it does snow - some years more than others, but that's when I drive one of the three 4x4's we have taking up space in the driveway.

DRTH VTR · 10-16-06, 12:28 PM

Snow tires-

That brings up another point. Many of us have run mismatched tires over the winter for years. Highway tires on the front, snow tires on the back. Running four now tires is a fairly new recommendation.

This seems like more evidence that different tires on the front and the back can often be acceptable. Of course it is not optimum, but it may not be that big a deal. I would also think that mismatched new tires is better than mismatched tires where two are worn out.

Norman Clemmer · 10-16-06, 02:15 PM

Why would you want to mix and match??? Your driving a Vette. Your car is not going to be configured for optiomal performance if you are running new tires on one axle with worn tires on the other or different tires with different that have different tread patterns and or side wall characteristics. Plus it is going to look goofy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinky

Is it possible, or more to the point, advisable to mix tires? I have almost brand new Goodyear runflats on the front. It's going to be time for new ones on the back soon and I've heard good things about the Michelin Pilot Sport Zero pressure tire... I am wondering if I can mix them with the Goodyears on the front.

Suggestions?

Pinky · 10-16-06, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norman Clemmer

Why would you want to mix and match??? Your driving a Vette. Your car is not going to be configured for optiomal performance if you are running new tires on one axle with worn tires on the other or different tires with different that have different tread patterns and or side wall characteristics. Plus it is going to look goofy.

Hey - if I cared about looking goofy, I'd have gone on a diet long ago.

I bought the new front tires before I learned aobut the Michelin Pilots. I'm hoping to reduce some of the road noise and I don't want to have to wait another 35,000+ miles until the front ones are worn out. I don't think optimal performance is an issue since I unknowingly drove 1,000 miles - including at 80 mph over winding mountain roads - with one of the front ones at 18 psi.

(with no ill effects)

6 Shooter · 10-16-06, 04:08 PM

I've been running Firestone's up front with Goodyear's in da back most all year...

Pretty sure the Goodyears(30K on em) will be replaced next spring with Michelin Pilots.

Later - D

Tuna · 10-16-06, 04:15 PM

I do not have much problem with mixing tires front to rear - side to side-- yes.

The Michelin PS A/S ZP's are 400 treadwear vice the ~320 on the GY. I do not see a significant issue here. Overall performance is about the same.

LLC5 · 10-16-06, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinky

Is it possible, or more to the point, advisable to mix tires? I have almost brand new Goodyear runflats on the front. It's going to be time for new ones on the back soon and I've heard good things about the Michelin Pilot Sport Zero pressure tire... I am wondering if I can mix them with the Goodyears on the front.

Suggestions?

Advisable, no. Matching tires are always the best way to go. Of course you can mix and match if you want to, but it will always be a compromise. I would consider going with 4 matching tires and selling the 2 good front tires. They should sell on ebay or craigslist.

IH2LOSE · 10-16-06, 09:43 PM

First and foremost I would think comparing the old mixed snow tires is way out of content here

Same goes for drag radials

Anybody running a set of drag radials only has to be concerned with going straight a 1/4 mile at a time

We are talking about a car that is capable in stock form to pull G'S in a corner

I am no engineer but I sure that the different tire would give a different feed back to the traction control

So I guess the question is

How do you drive the car? Like me and slightly spirited occasionally ?

I went on a long trip with a friend in the C5. He drove for a while. We were on some nice twisty roads and he just had the car on the brink of sliding out the entire trip on the twisty road.
I was shocked at how well the car handled and how fast he was able to take the car Thu the twisters. This type of a driver would probably get in trouble with mixed tires

Me on the other hand am not capable of driving the car close to that level and would not get in trouble with mixed tires.

Now i know every one thinks they drive there car on the brink , but until you have been with a real driver you just have no clue how great the C5 actually is.

BigMike5 · 11-07-06, 08:06 AM

I have a slightly different issue. Saturday, I had a front GY hit a boulder some kids through in the roadway just before I got there, and when the guy in front of me swerved to avoid it, there it was headed for my undercarriage. I swerved, but it got the front tire and also apparently hit the back. 20 seconds later I got a message that the right front was flat. When I got to the tire store and we looked at it the sidewall was a total loss. I did not see any damage to the back one, and the DIC wouldn't let me get beyond the warning on the front one to see how the rear was holding. I have 13.5K miles on the tires. A new GY will cost me about $400 when all is said and done. Can't tell if the rim got damaged inside but the edge outside looked ok. I toyed with just switching to a pair of Kumhos [for the front to keep the mileage even] which had some good ratings from Vette owners and are half as much as the GYs, but I finally decided to just replace the one bad front tire with another GY. Should I have done it the other way? My deductible was $200 on a road hazard. I also plan to have the undercarriage and front fascia looked at when they get the tire in and it goes up on a lift, and to have the alignment checked, but it seemed to handle ok after the hit.

Pinky · 11-07-06, 12:00 PM

That's why I put the new GY runflats on the front - only one of them was bad but it had an irreparable hole in it.