Will having two different tire treads do anything to my car?

CLIK92

Active Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2010
Messages
240
Location
Around
Car(s)
Mercedes CLK320
So I just found out that I need two new rear tires since they are pretty worn down. All four tires are Continental SportContact 3's, the two in the front are new. I was wondering if I could get Michelin Pilot Sport A/S plus's put in the back. But idk if it'll effect anything since 2 are summer Continentals, and 2 are Michelin A/S's.

And quick question, would you get the Continental Extreme Contact DWS or the Michelin A/S's? I'm debating on the two, but I wanna try the Michelin's (heard nothing but good reviews) even tho I love my stock Continental Contact 3's. I like performance tires that grip well in rain, and dry weather.
 
As far as i know, as long as you have the same kind of tire left and right on the front and back, respectively, you'll be fine.
 
You shouldn't have sport tires on one end and A/S on the other.
 
Contact_3_thn.jpg

psasplus.jpg


You shouldn't have sport tires on one end and A/S on the other.

explain?
 
The combo should not create any drama - not sure on any legal mumbojumbo at your location. However, what's wrong with getting the same pair in the rear as in the front?



What you shouldn't do is cheap out and only swap winter tyres on the traction axle, keeping summers on snow on the other axle. You'll get traction, but fail at braking stability and cornering. Hence you should treat your tyres as summer tyres, even though there is some A/S in there. Their warm performance should be similarish.
 

Maybe you can explain to me why it is a good idea. When it gets wet out your going to loose traction at one end before the other and it will feel all kinds of weird. You can have different brands of similar style witout any problems (A/S or sport, just not both).
 
It doesn't matter in any technical sense. Race teams use different compounds on their wheels all the time. Differing manufacturer/tread is a little extreme, but other than possible handling oddities (extreme understeer/oversteer) it will be fine.
 
Shit...I even have tires of different size on my car and everything is fine :lol:
 
All I know is the advice my dad told me once:

Never drive in the snow, up the mountains, with bias ply in the rear and radial in the front, in an Austin-Healey 3000.
 
Never ever buy 2nd hand, avoid retreads, budget tyres are OK but buy the best you can afford. It is the only bit in contact with the ground. ?.
 
I've got newer tyres of a different brand and tread (not different types though- they are both just your "standard" type of tyre) on the back of my car and my older tyres on the front. I don't notice any control/steering issues and the shop that sold me the new ones were more than happy to fit them in such a configuration. Bear in mind I don't "stress" my tyres in any way however!!! :lol:
 
I've got newer tyres of a different brand and tread (not different types though- they are both just your "standard" type of tyre) on the back of my car and my older tyres on the front. I don't notice any control/steering issues and the shop that sold me the new ones were more than happy to fit them in such a configuration. Bear in mind I don't "stress" my tyres in any way however!!! :lol:

Alright :)
 
I've got newer tyres of a different brand and tread (not different types though- they are both just your "standard" type of tyre) on the back of my car and my older tyres on the front.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Suzuki Swift that these tires are on is FWD. In which case you might want to rotate the tires...
 
I've always been told, good tires in the front... seeing that's the wheels that steer you, the less good in the rear, this includes RWD cars...
 
I've always been told, good tires in the front... seeing that's the wheels that steer you, the less good in the rear, this includes RWD cars...

If your rear tyres are worse your car will be unstable under braking, potentially swing round with the rear. Not good, hard to avoid.
If your front tyres are worse your car will potentially understeer in fast corners. Not good, but avoidable.

IMO, if you have to have one pair worse than the other - put it on the front.

Traction does not matter compared to the two safety aspects listed above, so this holds true for any drivetrain configuration.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Suzuki Swift that these tires are on is FWD. In which case you might want to rotate the tires...

You are wrong...according to the experts at least. They say that the new tires should always be on the back of the car, and the older ones on the front. All tire shops agree on this.

Personally, I don't. I see their point and understand the explanation, but I'm stubborn and prefer my good tires to be on the front wheels.
 
Front tires are more important under braking because the front wheels are the ones that do most of the braking. Also, in any sort of emergency avoidance maneuver, you do not want a FWD car's tendency to understeer to be magnified by having shit tires in the front.
 
Top