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My Toyota 2004 WD (not sure if it's true 4x4) two front tires are getting low on thread and will need to be replaced soon.
I read online that for all wheel drive cars you must change all four tires at the same time. Is that correct? I rather not buy four new tires since the rear ones still have a lot of thread on them.
What car is this? If it's an AWD crossover SUV then you need to replace all tires.
If it's a truck with a manual control for 4WD/2WD you can drive in 2WD with different size tires. Offroad in dirt and loose surfaces the slight tire size difference won't matter
What car is this? If it's an AWD crossover SUV then you need to replace all tires.
If it's a truck with a manual control for 4WD/2WD you can drive in 2WD with different size tires. Offroad in dirt and loose surfaces the slight tire size difference won't matter
Exactly. That's why I was inquiring in regards to the model.
The OP needs to research and understand there is a difference between All Wheel Drive and Four Wheel Drive.
Search some of the car magazine sites, or wiki.
An all wheel drive is always driving all wheels with automatic systems to spread the load among all wheels.
Sometimes there is a lock button to deactivate the sharing feature and force all wheels to turn.
Four wheel drive is more for off road and you can usually disengage one axle from the system
Four wheel drive you can have different tires at each end most of the time.
All wheel drive you want the same tires on all wheels.
If the other 2 tires still have good tread the other option is to have the new tires shaved down to a matching tread depth.
And you truly don't know what car you drive without going out to look at badges?
Since it sounds like you've already been running mismatched tread depths due to not rotating enough you should likely at least change your differential oil.
You can just buy two tires. It's the extremely rare car that has tolerances tight enough to where you can't vary the tire sizes by an amount equal to the available tread depth. Most of them will be sports cars with awd drivetrains where a small front bias in size needs to be on the front tires so the VCU doesn't get overheated.
For your truck, you'll be fine.
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