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Okay, I put snow tires on my car, and the tire guy told me two of my tires were fine, and two were done. Now, it is time to put tires on again, should I buy two tires? Or just go whole hog and buy four tires that match? My car has 85,000 miles.
Uneven tire wear is a substantial issue with FWD cars since the front tires are doing the triple-duty of acceleration, turning, and about 80% of the braking, often 2 of those 3 tasks at once. The only way to prevent this is with diligent tire rotation.
It's not necessary to have identical levels of traction on all of your tires, though if you have a lot more traction in the front than the rear that can cause the rear end to snap out during quick maneuvers or sudden braking in a turn, especially in low-traction situations like rain or snow. This is true even for FWD cars which is why it is recommended that the tires with the better traction (in this case, your 2 new tires) go on the rear wheels.
In lieu of diligent rotation, what I've done with my FWD cars is this: when it's time to replace the front tires -- and inevitably it's time to replace them sooner than the rear tires -- I simply have the tire shop take the rear tires and put 'em on the front and put the new ones on the rear. Then when the older tires that got moved to the front wear out, repeat the process. This way you get the most life out of each pair of tires you buy and you'll always have the higher-traction tires on the rear where they belong.
You don't say what type of car you have, and that is all important.
For example, with some AWD cars, the tire diameter needs to be kept very similar between the front and rear tires, or you can screw up your differential. In addition, some cars with tires that have directional tread will handle very strangely if you put a mismatched set of tires on, say a different brand, or even a different compound.
If it's a 2WD car, you can probably get by with just two.
No no no. Haveing different tires in any way can as you(op) experienced equals uneven tire wear. Fwd has nothing to do with it. The front wheels steer on most vehicles and that doesnt cause the fronts to wear faster. Alignments are the major factor in that and braking and jackrabbit(if fwd) starts. Because the engine on most, MOST cars is in the front in some fashion, the extra weight compared to the rear COULD cause them to wear faster.
And a fwd car with more rear grip is not going to break the ass end loose. It may cause turn like a dually but being u.powered they just drag along anyway.
Okay get four matching tires: tires come with wear ratings, you dont want two different compound tires like you dont want all weathers in the back and summers in the front. Itll save money from replacing them if you just get four new ones. Those worn front tires will eventually gibe you traction issues, then the rears will once they wear out. Get for nee ones and have your alignment checked- you shouldnt have uneven tire wesr that bad.
Okay, I put snow tires on my car, and the tire guy told me two of my tires were fine, and two were done. Now, it is time to put tires on again, should I buy two tires? Or just go whole hog and buy four tires that match? My car has 85,000 miles.
If it's a front wheel drive, your two front tires should match. Same thing for the rear tires, if it's rwd. Matching front & back is not essential.
Note that there ARE some situations in which you should replace all 4 tires. On a Jeep QuadTrac, and on some AWD vehicles, it is absolutely essential that all 4 tires be identical. Also, I have run across sales/rebates that made me decide to replace all 4 instead of just 2. "Buy 3 get the 4th free" for instance.
Last edited by GarageLogic; 03-15-2013 at 06:06 AM..
In both my RWD truck and my FWD van I've bought tires two at a time -two per axle - for quite a few years with no appreciable increase in wear or decrease in performance (as much as a pick up truck and a minivan can be said to perform LOL.) But I have good traction on bad roads, which is really all I'm after since these are "appliance" vehicles. I keep the better tires on the front for the FWR, rear for the RWD.
On my cargo van the tires are wearing evenly so I'll be replacing all four soon.
Having miss-matched Branded tires (all of the same size) isn't going to do any harm. Heck, I see several around my town that have 3 or 4 different brands on (meaning none or only 2 of them match). You won't blow up, have a roll-over, or die specifically because of mismatched tires.
But tires are meant to work as a set. They are your ONLY contact with the road, meaning the Only thing that keeps you in control and able to avoid hazards. If you have the means, buying a matched set will give you a greater safety margin.
In short, from worst to best -->
tires that are matched and need replaced -->> mismatched tires in good condition -->> matched set of tires in good condition -->> brand new matched set of tires.
I use the same tires on all 4 wheels. I use tires with good rain traction in the summer. I use good snow tires in the winter. I have extra rims for the extra tires. I do this because 4 season tires do not perform well either summer (lack of wet traction) or winter (very low snow traction). I have both FWD (Buick) and AWD (Subaru) cars.
I once used snow tires on the rear wheels only on RWD cars but did not realize how badly those handled (huge under steer) on snow until I put snow tires all around. That made a vast improvement.
Brand wise, mix all you want, size wise, its best to keep all the same unless your manufacturer recommends different size in the rear. Newer cars with 4 wheel ABS have wheel sensors and mismatched sizes can cause a different wheel speed and cause an abs pump to activate sooner or later and not as intended.
Different sizes from left to right on your drive tires can destroy a diff. Worst if its a FWD diff.
No matter if its FWD, RWD, AWD, 4WD, etc you always want the best tires on the back. When you drive, if front tires loose traction, you can correct by steering and save it. You cant steer you back wheels. If you are on a turn and lose traction in the rear, you will experience an under steer condition which will be next to impossible to control resulting in a spin out or wreck.
If one set is in good shape, id just replace 2 at a time.
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