Would you do this with your tires?

[Sceptre]

I wouldn't run the different types front and rear and expect a balanced performance when sliding. But then many people might have a low pressure tire and not notice it until someone tells them about it.

I just put 4 Nexen N3000s on my car yesterday - Soooooo uch quieter than the Bridgestone RFTs.

Not pushing the car until my springs are changed mid April.

Regards

Sceptre

 

[rob davey]

It will unbalance the car, different tyres have different levels of grip and react differently in given conditions – you’ll probably want the front and back to be doing the same thing…

 

[kwanmoney]

There's no issue mxing tyres if you have matching pairs on the same axle. Mxing on the same axle probably isn't a good idea as youll get a lack of consistency in your cornering. There's no danger in it it's one of those things that people instictively say they wouldn't do but there's actually no problem with it. I have stock contis up front and ps2's on the rear of mine. Guess what? It's fine

Well, a good tyre brand at each end is probably ok for 95% of driving, I'd be fine with that, but oe rft mixed with a nice new non-rft might be a bit iffy, imho

I have Falken 452's on the rear and OEM rft in front. I don't see any problems with day to day driving as long as you're not pushing it. I can't wait for my front rft to wear out so I can try something else.

 

[no fit state]

There's no issue mxing tyres if you have matching pairs on the same axle. Mxing on the same axle probably isn't a good idea as youll get a lack of consistency in your cornering. There's no danger in it it's one of those things that people instictively say they wouldn't do but there's actually no problem with it. I have stock contis up front and ps2's on the rear of mine. Guess what? It's fine

Well, a good tyre brand at each end is probably ok for 95% of driving, I'd be fine with that, but oe rft mixed with a nice new non-rft might be a bit iffy, imho

I have Falken 452's on the rear and OEM rft in front. I don't see any problems with day to day driving as long as you're not pushing it. I can't wait for my front rft to wear out so I can try something else.

I've pushed it and still not had a problem :evil:

 

[Jeff_Seymour]

I got the new non run flats put on the back and still have run flats on the front. They feel fine so far. I took the chance based on other peoples experiences with doing it rather than other people theories. Plus I am not the guy who races around but rather cruises and just looks cool. I wouldn't notice the difference anyways unless it was really dramatic. Thanks guys

 

[Mr Whippy]

I was just uncertain about how different the lateral movement is with oe rft's on bumpy roads vs my fk452's...

With such a disparity I can only assume the front end still moves laterally, but the back end doesn't.

I think you'd be fine cruising around, but I'd question the limit balance now (my dad used to stuff random tyres on his cars and when I drove them they used to do weird things, especially on roundabouts in the wet )

Dave

 

[cj10jeeper]

I'm with Dave on this one. I do not think there is any sense whatsoever in mixing RFT's on one end and non RFT's on the other. Of course for 95% (or even 99.9%) of the time it will be just fine, but we are talking about performance cars here and not shopping cars. When it matters then the totally different way the tyres are constucted and behave could be a lethal combination. (It's not without good reason that UK laws on mixing radial and cross ply specified the correct front back mix to induce appropriate handling)

Come that tricky moment of turning or braking, when conditions are not right or a bit quick and then the imbalance will show up. I also expect the superb safetly electronics assume identical tyres and apply braking accordingly.

Come that unlikley crash then I'll bet the police and insurance could/would cite mixed tyres as a contributing factor.

Frankly if you can't afford to put 4 matching tyres on at a cost of perhaps £200 for the extra pair then a different car is the right way to go.

Rant over

 

[thestig]

Its the cost all at once that is the issue Jeeper.
By the sounds of it its about £225 for ONE runflat.

Its also the fact of potentially replacing perfectly good rubber that has many miles left to run.
Personally I dont think its a problem at all as long as each axle is the same.
Just because you own a nice car doesent mean you always have £500 in the bank to change all 4 tyres at once.
:|

 

[cj10jeeper]

Its the cost all at once that is the issue Jeeper.
By the sounds of it its about £225 for ONE runflat.

Its also the fact of potentially replacing perfectly good rubber that has many miles left to run.
Personally I dont think its a problem at all as long as each axle is the same.
Just because you own a nice car doesent mean you always have £500 in the bank to change all 4 tyres at once.
:|

I understand the cashflow situation, etc. however that's why we have credit cards. Reality of owning cars like this is the cost is in the consumables and not the basic car and we have to budget and live accordingly.

 

[Mr Whippy]

It's a tough one, but I left my two rear oe Bridgestones with a good 4mm tread on them.

The way I see it is, a car costs alot more to run than the tyres alone cost. My car depreciates maybe £150 a month alone (and I have a cheap example, a £15,000 model will be shedding £200 a month I'd imagine) before anything else, so an extra £150 for a pair of fronts, and £200 for a pair of rears (fk452's), it's not THAT much more for tyres that will last a good year of use, in the big picture of things at least

 

[thestig]

I honestly reckon that for on road use at any speed or conditions you couldnt honestly tell the difference in a blind test of two cars.
On a track in the hands of the stig (the real one! :wink: ) he might, but when is that likely to happen.

To me, best case scenario would always be to try and keep all tyres matching, but should circumstances dictate a temporary use of different tyres on front/rear axles then really, no big deal!

 

[Mr Whippy]

The difference from oe rft > fk452 is like night and day on a rougher road.

I just can't fathom how it must feel to have the front end diving 6 inches either way on the oe rft's, but have the back solid and planted on fk452, at 60mph down a rougher road.

I can instantly tell going from my friends car with RFT's to my own... I always think at first why he is steering all over the shop and then I realise he's on oe RFT!

Dave

 

[gannet]

The difference from oe rft > fk452 is like night and day on a rougher road.

I just can't fathom how it must feel to have the front end diving 6 inches either way on the oe rft's, but have the back solid and planted on fk452, at 60mph down a rougher road.

I can instantly tell going from my friends car with RFT's to my own... I always think at first why he is steering all over the shop and then I realise he's on oe RFT!

Dave

similarly I would not like to have OE (Bridgestone) run flats on one end and the Michelin ZP's on the other. Car is just so much better and composed with the ZP's on

 

[cj10jeeper]

I honestly reckon that for on road use at any speed or conditions you couldnt honestly tell the difference in a blind test of two cars.
On a track in the hands of the stig (the real one! :wink: ) he might, but when is that likely to happen.

To me, best case scenario would always be to try and keep all tyres matching, but should circumstances dictate a temporary use of different tyres on front/rear axles then really, no big deal!

You're kiddin' me. I couldn't drive a mile and not know if you switched them back on mine. They are so totally different as soon as you hit a piece of rough tarmac or try to drive quickly around a corner the harsh characteristics of a Bridgestone RFT show themselves

At least we're in total agreement that the best case is to keep them all matching

 

[thestig]

Ok ok, Im defo puttin my hands up on this one .
I've never driven the Z on non runflats so Im arguing something I dont know about.
What I was trying to say is that yes you might be able to tell in the handling or comfort of the ride, but I just couldnt see it being "dangerous" like a few people have suggested.
Im sure it would be tolerable especially when not driving to the limit.

 

[cj10jeeper]

Ok ok, Im defo puttin my hands up on this one .
I've never driven the Z on non runflats so Im arguing something I dont know about.
What I was trying to say is that yes you might be able to tell in the handling or comfort of the ride, but I just couldnt see it being "dangerous" like a few people have suggested.
Im sure it would be tolerable especially when not driving to the limit.

I'm glad you hold your hands up to that one. I was amazed you could not tell.

My point in this thread has really been to emphasise that for 99.9% of the time it doesn't matter what tyres you have on but in that moment when you have to make an emergency stop or you've overcooked it on a corner than the tyre charactreistics could put you in the ditch. People tend to buy Zeds and similar to drive fast and enjoy and so should not accept compromised positions. Same with ebay pads, and cheap discs, etc.

Maybe I am overly concerned. For instance my daughter has a Ka and I was sliding it all over the road on it's OEM rear tyres (2002 plate!!! and they were deteriorating even though still having 5mm of tread) Put a set of decent unidirectionals on and it's suddenly on rails. Would she ever notice - I doubt it, but if she does something silly she'll likely stay on the road and I feel better for that knowledge.

 

[thestig]

Fair point

 

[kwanmoney]

The difference from oe rft > fk452 is like night and day on a rougher road.

I just can't fathom how it must feel to have the front end diving 6 inches either way on the oe rft's, but have the back solid and planted on fk452, at 60mph down a rougher road.

I can instantly tell going from my friends car with RFT's to my own... I always think at first why he is steering all over the shop and then I realise he's on oe RFT!

Dave

I think I feel the same way right now: OE RFT's on the front is pulling left and right all over the place for me in rough roads, or even roads which are simply not perfectly flat. I find that it helps with this "side steer" to slightly overpressure the oe RFT to 36psi.