Mixing tire brands?

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Kevin Oberle - 21 May 2006 13:08 GMT

The Bridgestone Potenza RE040's on my E46 coupe are getting worn, though
the rears tires are in worse shape than the fronts. I'd like to replace
the rears first and wait until next year to do the front tires.

I'm thinking I may not go with Bridgestones when I purchase the
replacements. Would it cause any problems to have different brands on the
rear for a period of time than those on the front?

Thanks,

Kevin

Reply to this Message

Mike G - 22 May 2006 10:26 GMT

> The Bridgestone Potenza RE040's on my E46 coupe are getting worn, though
> the rears tires are in worse shape than the fronts. I'd like to replace
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> replacements. Would it cause any problems to have different brands on the
> rear for a period of time than those on the front?

As long as they are the right size and type, and not cheapies, you'll
probably not notice the difference. Certainly not enough to cause concern.
Mike.

Reply to this Message

AGH! - 22 May 2006 14:55 GMT

Keep tyres on the same axle matching to keep grip on each side of car
similar when braking. Different front to rear is OK.
RE040 are optimised for dry summer conditions. If you spend time
driving in wet conditions you are likely to notice better traction from
other tyre types. Wife's Mazda 6 has much better traction in the wet
since switching from the Bridgestones to Pirelli P6000

Reply to this Message

adder1969@yahoo.co.uk - 22 May 2006 15:34 GMT

> Keep tyres on the same axle matching to keep grip on each side of car
> similar when braking. Different front to rear is OK.
> RE040 are optimised for dry summer conditions. If you spend time
> driving in wet conditions you are likely to notice better traction from
> other tyre types. Wife's Mazda 6 has much better traction in the wet
> since switching from the Bridgestones to Pirelli P6000

I used to have bridgestone S02's which were simply fantastic in the
wet. The car had no traction control and I rarely needed it. I did
then put S03s on and wasn't so impressed.

Reply to this Message

Richard Sexton - 23 May 2006 01:43 GMT

Look at it this way, if differences in tire compound are going to
show up it's not giong to be doing 30 taking grandma to church now
is it?

No, it's gonna be that corner that you don't care if it's wet because
you've taken it a thousand times and know exactly what the car can do.

Whoops. You knew what the car could do with four tires exactly the
same and now the fact that your back end is now leading the way and you're
following in the front cabin suggests different tires behave differently
and there are times when this matters.

So can you mix different tires? Depends how you drive. My dad gets
away with it. I won't even try any more.

To be sure there are tires you can "match" that act pretty similarly
but then again there are random combinations, mostly differing in when the
tire breaks away, that are bordering on downright lethal and that can be said
of even different tires within a given manufacturor.

Signature

Need Mercedes parts? http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home pages: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

Reply to this Message

R. Mark Clayton - 22 May 2006 21:15 GMT

Front and rear different - unlikely to be a problem (they are even different
sizes on many BMW's). In general put the wider / better ones at the back.

OMA do NOT mix tyres on the same axle.

> The Bridgestone Potenza RE040's on my E46 coupe are getting worn, though
> the rears tires are in worse shape than the fronts. I'd like to replace
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Kevin

Reply to this Message

Tom K. - 23 May 2006 04:11 GMT

> Front and rear different - unlikely to be a problem (they are even
> different sizes on many BMW's). In general put the wider / better ones at
> the back.

Different sizes - but not different brands or models within one brand.

Tom K.

Reply to this Message