Why would he do this?

[ncrossy1980]

Since buying the car back in February, it's bugged the life out of me that the front and rear tyres are different brands. They're visibly different when looking at them, totally different tyre wall and it annoys me greatly

The two front tyres are Continental Sport Contact 225/45Z18
http://www.kwik-fit.com/tyre-catalogue.asp?s=3&man=Continental&mod=Sport%20Contact&pn=&ts=225/45Z18

The two rear tyres are Pirelli P Zero 235/40Y18
http://www.kwik-fit.com/tyre-catalogue.asp?s=3&man=Pirelli&mod=P%20Zero&pn=&ts=235/40Y18

I assumed the previous owner simply needed to replace the front or rears one time and wasn't bothered about them matching. But just now, I've stumbled upon a receipt from Kwik Fit showing that he bought and fitted all 4 of them on the same day! Why!? :dizzy: Who does that? Surely Kwik Fit would have said to the guy "OK you need 4 tyres, here's a quote for 4 Continental..."

Being totally inexperienced in the world of tyres, is there any known reason why someone would explicitly decide to choose different brands front and rear? Not discounting the possibility of stock issues on that day, but surely you'd wait to get right if you're facing what was a £817.90p invoice!

 

[Z4Bob]

At the risk of starting an argument who goes to KwikFit if they know anything about tyres or tyre fitters. So if we have a tyre numpty who says please fit 4 new tyres KwikFit would you be surprised if KwikFit didn't mention that the only tyres they had in stock were different front and back? Owner comes back, tyres shiny and new, pays bill and drives off. Job done KwikFit? Other question must be, who would pay that amount for 4 tyres?

 

[GuidoK]

Why would you drive with a different size front &rear :lol:

There is no theoretical argument why both front& rear axle should have the same make tyre.
It's just something your eyes can't stand

235 is maybe a bit narrow for the rear for a z4m. Maybe he wanted less grip in the rear (drifting or so, you know, slow car fast etc), and 235 was the narrowest that could fit on the rim and that 235 was a size that continental couldn't deliver?

He might be very stupid......or very smart :lol:

The numbers however dont add up to £817 unless he bought more stuff

 

[ncrossy1980]

Why would you drive with a different size front &rear :lol:

There is no theoretical argument why both front& rear axle should have the same make tyre.
It's just something your eyes can't stand

235 is maybe a bit narrow for the rear for a z4m. Maybe he wanted less grip in the rear (drifting or so, you know, slow car fast etc), and 235 was the narrowest that could fit on the rim and that 235 was a size that continental couldn't deliver?

He might be very stupid......or very smart :lol:

The numbers however dont add up to £817 unless he bought more stuff

Ooo just to clarify. He did get 255 for the rears, it's just the hyperlink defaulted to a narrower tyre. But he bought 255/40YR-18 on the rear and 225/45ZR-18 on the front (my bad, I copy and pasted the tyre size from the hyperlink instead of what was on the invoice!).
I thought the theoretical argument was regarding tread patterns? I know that's more important for left to right, but I guess my point here is I'm trying to figure out why someone would go out of their way to ask for that when every other person in the world would likely be quoted 4 of the same brand!

Regarding the price, the quote is from May 2014 so the unit price has changed considerably since then. The Pirelli's where £200 a piece on the invoice and the Continentals £148 each, which is eye watering. Kwik Fit then proceeded to pull his pants down for £70 to "CHECK & FRONT ADJUST GEOALIGN" and "REAR TOE ADJUST". Various other things on there like balancing etc too.

 

[Grumpyowl]

Nowt as Queer as folk.
It doesn't bother some people, when I bought my car all the tyres were good and perfectly legal.
All four were different brands
It was one of the first things I did Refurb wheels and 4 matching Vreds

 

[mr wilks]

Maybe thats the only stock they had on the day that were correct size & paired ?
As for running different treads / brands front & rear ?
Currently have Michelin rears + Uniroyal fronts & couldn't be happier with the way the car drives & feels
Have run similar set ups many times & have no issues :? then again i don't have any issues

 

[ncrossy1980]

Maybe thats the only stock they had on the day that were correct size & paired ?
As for running different treads / brands front & rear ?
Currently have Michelin rears + Uniroyal fronts & couldn't be happier with the way the car drives & feels
Have run similar set ups many times & have no issues :? then again i don't have any issues

Perhaps it's just my OCD. Not sure it'll project across on this image but this is the difference in tyre wall appearance... the Pirelli has a very rounded smooth wall and the Continental... just isn't.
I think that's possibly the only logical explanation, stock issues. If it was me and my £800 I'd have waited a couple of days and had them match but then perhaps the last owner just genuinely didn't care for aesthetics.

 

[mr wilks]

If its bugging so bad £100 or so should see it sorted ? Assuming your fronts are +5mm they should sell around £100 ?
£200 gets a pair of Pirelli fronts http://www.tyreleader.co.uk/car-tyres/pirelli/pzero-nero-gt/225-45-zr18-95y-60115

 

[ncrossy1980]

If its bugging so bad £100 or so should see it sorted ? Assuming your fronts are +5mm they should sell around £100 ?
£200 gets a pair of Pirelli fronts http://www.tyreleader.co.uk/car-tyres/pirelli/pzero-nero-gt/225-45-zr18-95y-60115

It was bugging me a lot up until I noticed they were all bought on the same day, now it's killing me :lol: A set of 19's is on the shopping list of wants so it would be money down the pan to change them over, it's just not gonna happen soon, because house move :|
Good to know about the site though thanks, my daily driver needs two new 18's so I'll run it past that place

 

[mr wilks]

Good to know about the site though thanks, my daily driver needs two new 18's so I'll run it past that place

Not sure on your exact sizes but can highly recommend the Uniroyals & practically giving them away at £60 for standard BMW front sizes http://www.tyreleader.co.uk/car-tyres/uniroyal/rainsport-3/225-40-r18-92y-187764

 

[Anonymous]

I can understand this completely but have been able to control my ocd stupidity more the older I get. Because houses and rings cost more than tyres!!!

 

[srhutch]

My daily E87 has a staggered setup and I struggled to get a set of anything matching. In the end I got another set of Hankooks but this time they are different front to back. 215 front and 245 rear, one of them being a unusual size that only BMW use really

That was ordering them in with a few days to play with also.

 

[David-H]

I don't think that it's unusual for different brands front & rear.

My coupe was sold by a BMW main dealer with extended warranty etc with different brands front & rear. I have since bought APEX ARC-8 rims and fitted them with Eagle F1 AS2s all round as the tyres on the 224s were not only different brands front & rear, they weren't top quality brands, although they did have plenty of tread on them.

 

[ncrossy1980]

It's not unusual to buy all 4 at once on the same day and explicitly request different brands?

That's the point of this I guess, why then? If it isn't unusual then what is the logic behind it. Plenty of my previous cars had different branded tyres but that was because they were all bought at different times from different places by different people with different budgets.

 

[Raj_UK]

At the risk of starting an argument who goes to KwikFit if they know anything about tyres or tyre fitters. So if we have a tyre numpty who says please fit 4 new tyres KwikFit would you be surprised if KwikFit didn't mention that the only tyres they had in stock were different front and back? Owner comes back, tyres shiny and new, pays bill and drives off. Job done KwikFit? Other question must be, who would pay that amount for 4 tyres?

Let the argument start!!! Why would you not go to kwik fit? I hunt around for the best price and have occasionally used kwik fit. No complaints or issues except the annual reminder text about my MOT!! Tyres are same from anywhere and fitters are people like you and me. They could be good or bad wherever they work.

 

[markeg]

Maybe thats the only stock they had on the day that were correct size & paired ?

^^This. I recently had an issue with the rears on my wife's car deflating - apparently we had hit some debris on the motorway that had punctured both rears (but no the fronts, go figure??) and they were causing slow punctures. Both wheels irreparable, so went to the closest tyre place. They only had one continental in stock (the front wheel brand) and one pirelli. Ended up buying both, using the pirelli as the spare, and the spare (which was a continental) was used on the rear.

A lot of tyre places only carry minimal stock, and will buy in stock when requested, usually at a 24 hour turnaround. If the owner needed tyres that day, or wasn't too concerned about running different rears and fronts, then I can see why.

As for Kwik Fit, wouldn't use them (or other franchise tyre fitters) unless in an emergency. I prefer smaller dealers who, I know, take care of my alloys. Usually they will price match as well.