Mixing All Season Tyres from different manufacturers
Discussion
Is it OK to mix all season tyres from different manufacturers or is this a no-no?
Car currently has a pair of Michelin Cross Climate 2's on and am due to have a pair of Goodyear Vector 4Seasons fitted.
If it's not recommended, why would that be - safety, fuel economy?
(I understand mixing all season tyres with summer or winter tyres is not recommended but can't seem to find an answer to the above.)
Car currently has a pair of Michelin Cross Climate 2's on and am due to have a pair of Goodyear Vector 4Seasons fitted.
If it's not recommended, why would that be - safety, fuel economy?
(I understand mixing all season tyres with summer or winter tyres is not recommended but can't seem to find an answer to the above.)
I can't see why you would want to mix tyres of any sort.
I have CC2s on my Benz and they are, by some distance, the very best real world tyres I have ever had on a car. As well as being completely sure-footed in all conditions, after 25,000 miles they only look half worn. Wouldn't consider fitting anything else on my daily.
I have CC2s on my Benz and they are, by some distance, the very best real world tyres I have ever had on a car. As well as being completely sure-footed in all conditions, after 25,000 miles they only look half worn. Wouldn't consider fitting anything else on my daily.
Ultimately safety but many people do it and it's perfectly legal.
Tyres have a behaviour - they grip differently in the wet & dry, under braking, acceleration, cornering etc.
If you mix tyres & get anywhere the limits, then they will give up grip at different points, so the handling of the car won't be progressive & predictable.
Even the old advice of grippier tyres on the back doesn't really work as one set may be grippier under certain circumstances, whilst in other circumstances they are not. Most tyre fitters will opt for the new ones on the back, assuming more tread = more grip. The 'on the back' advice is because most drivers can handle understeer better than oversteer.
Clearly extremes like mixing summer & winter are worser, but I wouldn't want to mix at all. I accept that many people do though.
Tyres have a behaviour - they grip differently in the wet & dry, under braking, acceleration, cornering etc.
If you mix tyres & get anywhere the limits, then they will give up grip at different points, so the handling of the car won't be progressive & predictable.
Even the old advice of grippier tyres on the back doesn't really work as one set may be grippier under certain circumstances, whilst in other circumstances they are not. Most tyre fitters will opt for the new ones on the back, assuming more tread = more grip. The 'on the back' advice is because most drivers can handle understeer better than oversteer.
Clearly extremes like mixing summer & winter are worser, but I wouldn't want to mix at all. I accept that many people do though.
I mixed summer tyres once, I crapped myself on my first spirited corner and got all of them matched, even though the other pair still had 5.5mm tread.
All of them were premium tyres, matched across axles but that particular combo back (Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance 2) and front (Continental Premium Contact 5) seriously unsettled the car. Once they were all matched, my car started to behave ‘normally’ again.
Didn’t notice the difference around town, so I guess if you are putting them on a second car used for the school run, you might not notice?
Why not just match them all?
All of them were premium tyres, matched across axles but that particular combo back (Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance 2) and front (Continental Premium Contact 5) seriously unsettled the car. Once they were all matched, my car started to behave ‘normally’ again.
Didn’t notice the difference around town, so I guess if you are putting them on a second car used for the school run, you might not notice?
Why not just match them all?
Edited by wyson on Monday 31st July 10:24
Another one of those ridiculous myths that the internet perpetuates. Matching tyres per axle are perfectly fine unless you’re competing or anything like that.
Some folk have even been advised to change all 4 tyres purely because one had a puncture. Before the internet people used to drive perfectly fine with 4 different makes of tyre on their car - tread depth used to matter now the hype gravy train has gone into overdrive.
Some folk have even been advised to change all 4 tyres purely because one had a puncture. Before the internet people used to drive perfectly fine with 4 different makes of tyre on their car - tread depth used to matter now the hype gravy train has gone into overdrive.
maz8062 said:
Another one of those ridiculous myths that the internet perpetuates. Matching tyres per axle are perfectly fine unless you’re competing or anything like that.
So you just buy the cheapest available tyres then ?No point forking out for a premium brand if they all behave the same & are fine in any combination.
BoRED S2upid said:
How about the same 2 front and 2 different but same rear? I’m in this situation currently with a front wheel drive Volvo. Tears have a lot of life left in them.
Depends how you drive.Your car can go from being a bit understeery in the wet (as most are) to being a snappy oversteerer.
Happened to me on a big wet roundabout that I was taking a bit too quickly. Never again will I mix tyres. However, it';s your money, so your choice. Mixing is perfectly legal and OK for the vast majority of the time.
Appreciate the replies.
Background is all tyres on the car needed changing due to age not wear so had one pair changed at the end of last year to the Cross Climate 2's as I got a good deal on them. Reviews suggested they were decent tyres so went with them - wasn't familiar with all season tyres as have historically just run with summer tyres all year round.
Now in the process of changing the remaining pair of tyres and research suggested not to mix my existing all season tyres with summer or winter tyres so booked in to have some Vector 4Seasons, which are also all season tyres, fitted.
In the meantime, have seen a deal on the Costco website for Vector 4Seasons and the listing states that these tyres should only be changed in 4's hence posting this question on PH.
The strange thing is, the Cross Cimates I bought last year were from Costco and there was no such 'warning' on that listing.
(The tyres are on my daily driver but I only do about 5k miles local driving with the odd short motorway run - btw, my days of spirited driving are long gone!)
Background is all tyres on the car needed changing due to age not wear so had one pair changed at the end of last year to the Cross Climate 2's as I got a good deal on them. Reviews suggested they were decent tyres so went with them - wasn't familiar with all season tyres as have historically just run with summer tyres all year round.
Now in the process of changing the remaining pair of tyres and research suggested not to mix my existing all season tyres with summer or winter tyres so booked in to have some Vector 4Seasons, which are also all season tyres, fitted.
In the meantime, have seen a deal on the Costco website for Vector 4Seasons and the listing states that these tyres should only be changed in 4's hence posting this question on PH.
The strange thing is, the Cross Cimates I bought last year were from Costco and there was no such 'warning' on that listing.
(The tyres are on my daily driver but I only do about 5k miles local driving with the odd short motorway run - btw, my days of spirited driving are long gone!)
Edited by SpeedBash on Sunday 30th July 19:29
On mine, the rears had more squidge than the fronts. In a faster corner, the car would settle down more on the outside rear, making the front rise up, the steering go very light and the car understeer severely. Cacked myself because the car wouldn’t respond to steering inputs, put on quarter of a turn and nothing, at a speed the car coped with before, well within the limits of grip.
This stopped happening when I changed the fronts for the same squidgy tyres. Then, you could feel the loading through the front outside tyre and understeer was telegraphed way in advance, which is the normal behaviour of the car. The car was noticeably grippier too and I didn’t have to drive round gingerly.
The mixed tyres definitely reduced the overall grip levels and upset the handling balance, making the car less safe and I vowed never to mix tyres again after this. The cars handbook recommended having the same tyres on all four corners, now I could see it was put in there for a reason!
This stopped happening when I changed the fronts for the same squidgy tyres. Then, you could feel the loading through the front outside tyre and understeer was telegraphed way in advance, which is the normal behaviour of the car. The car was noticeably grippier too and I didn’t have to drive round gingerly.
The mixed tyres definitely reduced the overall grip levels and upset the handling balance, making the car less safe and I vowed never to mix tyres again after this. The cars handbook recommended having the same tyres on all four corners, now I could see it was put in there for a reason!
Edited by wyson on Monday 31st July 14:08
It's plain old common sense really not to mix n match.
Although as both would be deemed a good quality tyre, it's probably not the end of the world.
But different tyres on different axles, can massively impact the handling of a car, whether that's massive oversteer, or understeer....just depends on what you mix and match.
Of course it also depends how you drive, the conditions you drive in. 90% of the time it may never be an issue at all. In that 10% window though, you might be grateful of having good tyres all round for safe handling, braking, resistance to aquaplaning, whatever.
Then again, a lot of the population drive around on absolute chinese s
te, different tyre every corner, and most don't crash.
Although as both would be deemed a good quality tyre, it's probably not the end of the world.
But different tyres on different axles, can massively impact the handling of a car, whether that's massive oversteer, or understeer....just depends on what you mix and match.
Of course it also depends how you drive, the conditions you drive in. 90% of the time it may never be an issue at all. In that 10% window though, you might be grateful of having good tyres all round for safe handling, braking, resistance to aquaplaning, whatever.
Then again, a lot of the population drive around on absolute chinese s
te, different tyre every corner, and most don't crash.I fitted All Seasons years ago (before Cross Climate's existed) to a Merc Estate with staggered set-up and I couldn't get the same tyre in both front and rear sizes.
I had Vredestein Quatrac on the front and Kumho Solus Vier on the rear. The performance of them never gave me a moment's concern - the only time the ESP light ever came on was if I provoked it deliberately.
I had Vredestein Quatrac on the front and Kumho Solus Vier on the rear. The performance of them never gave me a moment's concern - the only time the ESP light ever came on was if I provoked it deliberately.
If it’s a performance car, being driven on the door handles, then having the tyres matching will be vital. I suspect this is not the case and you will be driving well within the car’s and tyres limits. Most people I’m sure will have driven with different tyres on different axles, and the same applies with all seasons as it does with summers. I’m doing it now on my Panda 4x4. Have I noticed? Nope.
I'd have no worries about running tyres of same tyre type (ie all season) on the two axles so long as they were, as in this case, of similar quality.
In disclosure it doesn't apply to us personally because both our cars are full time AWD so i rotate tyres and replace all 4 at the same time, i wouldn't want different tyre tread depths on an AWD.
In disclosure it doesn't apply to us personally because both our cars are full time AWD so i rotate tyres and replace all 4 at the same time, i wouldn't want different tyre tread depths on an AWD.
Another one of those ridiculous myths that the internet perpetuates. Matching tyres per axle are perfectly fine unless you’re competing or anything like that.
Some folk have even been advised to change all 4 tyres purely because one had a puncture. Before the internet people used to drive perfectly fine with 4 different makes of tyre on their car - tread depth used to matter now the hype gravy train has gone into overdrive.
Some folk have even been advised to change all 4 tyres purely because one had a puncture. Before the internet people used to drive perfectly fine with 4 different makes of tyre on their car - tread depth used to matter now the hype gravy train has gone into overdrive.
maz8062 said:
Another one of those ridiculous myths that the internet perpetuates. Matching tyres per axle are perfectly fine unless you’re competing or anything like that.
Myth? Not really. I used to have a car that had different tyres front to rear, each pair matched across an axle. Put them on with one specific pair on the front and the car was practically undriveable, wanted to spin all the time in damp conditions. Changed them round and it was absolutely fine.roscopervis said:
If it’s a performance car, being driven on the door handles, then having the tyres matching will be vital. I suspect this is not the case and you will be driving well within the car’s and tyres limits. Most people I’m sure will have driven with different tyres on different axles, and the same applies with all seasons as it does with summers. I’m doing it now on my Panda 4x4. Have I noticed? Nope.
I don't think that mismatched tyres front to rear is a huge problem (I've just put CrossClimates on the back of mine, the Rainsports on the front still have too much tread for the northerner in me to change them) but the general argument of "dodgy limit handling doesn't matter if you don't deliberately drive near the limit" doesn't work for me. If anything it's even more of a ticking timebomb because the driver will have no idea that the car is going to do something unexpected when the driver or another road user makes a mistake. Gassing Station | Suspension, Brakes & Tyres | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff