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Having only two tires at different size is an even worse idea IMO. Keep looking, please, your safety is at stake. Doing this is going to play havoc with the vehicle's handling. Also, most shops would refuse to mount them on your car I suspect in that configuration, even if they do work on your stock wheels.
Check the salvage yards. Maybe you can find a pair in the right size that came off a wrecked car. If you get only two brand new ones, at least you'll be in spec, but that does open up another can of worms. You'll be constantly buying only two unless you bite the bullet and get 4 sometime, and you'll have to put the new ones on the BACK for handling issues.
Moral of the story is make sure you rotate your tires so they wear out evenly! If it were me, I'd get the most I can out of the existing ones then start fresh with 4 new ones. Yes, the expensive route, but also the safest.
Having only two tires at different size is an even worse idea IMO. Keep looking, please, your safety is at stake. Doing this is going to play havoc with the vehicle's handling. Also, most shops would refuse to mount them on your car I suspect in that configuration, even if they do work on your stock wheels.
Check the salvage yards. Maybe you can find a pair in the right size that came off a wrecked car. If you get only two brand new ones, at least you'll be in spec, but that does open up another can of worms. You'll be constantly buying only two unless you bite the bullet and get 4 sometime, and you'll have to put the new ones on the BACK for handling issues.
Moral of the story is make sure you rotate your tires so they wear out evenly! If it were me, I'd get the most I can out of the existing ones then start fresh with 4 new ones. Yes, the expensive route, but also the safest.
The handling issue makes sense... was wondering that. Guess I'll be looking for a set of 4. Thanks Greg!
I guess never mind all those hot rods that handle just fine with big tires in the back? I had a tire shop once refuse to sell me two tires using that crap excuse, because the fronts on the car were some weird size you couldn't easily buy, even though as I'd bought it the car had worn out bias-ply snows on the back and radials on the front and handled terribly that way. I went out and put two used tires on the back that weren't even the same rim size, but bolted on, and the car handled tons better, in fact it's the best driving car I ever had. Granted, this was a large RWD car. My van that I drive now not only has two different sizes, I just swapped them end for end. No handling issues.
The biggest thing with a front driver is to have snows all around if you live in an area where it snows heavily, like here in New York state. If it's all wheel drive, then larger tires on one end may cause drivability issues because they change the effective gear ratio of the differential relative to the other end of the vehicle.
If you google up the details on those tire sizes, you should be able to find the rim sizes they're recommended for; if the larger one's smallest size is larger than the smaller tire's largest size, then they won't fit your rims and the point is moot. The rest is just measuring - but since the rears don't turn it's just a matter of if they'll clear the fenders easily. Larger on the rear will likely rub if you put a heavy load in the back.
As for the speedometer/odometer, it depends where the vehicle speed sensor is located. Larger tires on the rear of a front wheel drive shouldn't change anything. Mine was off about 3 MPH with 235/75R15 on the back, with 215s it's off 5 MPH, I may put oversize tires on to replace the 215s to see if I can correct the speedometer. The odometer is off by about a tenth every few (like 5-10) miles, it's negligible.
I guess never mind all those hot rods that handle just fine with big tires in the back?
Yes, never mind them. I think yours and my definitions of "just fine" could be different. Although I'm sure a few people daily drive their hot rods, they are rear drive and expected to have some quirks. (Guy across the street from me builds hot rods. He sure doesn't daily drive them.) This is a front-drive minivan for which one would presumably like to have predictable handling in an emergency. I'll grant you that any change in the handling might be small. I just personally wouldn't do this to save a few bucks, or even a lot of bucks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pontiac59
As for the speedometer/odometer ... Larger tires on the rear of a front wheel drive shouldn't change
That is true; the sensing of the speed should matter only with fronts. The rears will just rotate at different rate (which they would do sometimes even with the same size tires, when turning, etc). I still wouldn't do it. Not even in a pinch. If one is going to search for used tires, I suspect one could find them in the right size. There's no gain from having these upsized tires only on the rear, only possible problems.
Thank you all for the replies! A lot of helpful people here!
Greg, someone is selling 2 x 225/75s for dirt cheap locally. Two of the van's tires are bad, two are fine. I don't really have other options besides buying new for 4x the price, or hoping better sized used ones show up on the market soon.
So basically the 225/75s would be two rear tires, with stock 215/65 on the front. Or vise versa if that would be more sensible. But I don't mind if the speedometer is innacurate... I can adjust to that in my head.
you should be able to just buy two tires if that is all you need. yes the tire shop is going to push you to buy four, and a few will refuse to sell you just two tires. stick to your guns and tell them you just want two tires in the right size. shop around if you have to.
just don't. Find the right size tires or something much closer in size. Too many problems with this size, and most of them have already been mentioned.
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