Mixed Tires - Good Idea?

[Blade69]

This is not another "this tire is better" thread...lol. I was in a local tire shop and the guy told me he had 4 mixed Michelin tires due to a shipping mixup. Only thing is, the fronts are Diamaris and the rears are the Latitude Tour HPs. I was wondering what harm would it do if I put them on. He's looking to give me a good deal on them. Thanks.

[tmv]

My guess is: it should be fine as long as you have the same tires on the same axle.

[theblue]

agreed.. I'm sure some will be scared of doing something like this, but I doubt that anything will go wrong. I would stick with all the same type of tire (snow, all season, summer)

overall tire size can be different between brands and even models. The big reason to not mix and match tires all over the place is because of this difference. since the front and rear diffs are both open (from what I understand) I would only worry about matching tires on an axle.

[epdarks]

It would depend on how good the "deal" was, IMO.

There are tons of good deals on tires out there.

I have a perfect set of Toyos that I will sell you for half of what Tire Rack charges.

Assuming you are talking about OEM 20" tire sizes... what is your cost out the door for this mix and match setup?

[JCL]

I don't think it is a huge negative, but you will give up some handling by mixing and thus having tires with different characteristics on each axle.

[Blade69]

Sorry. Sometimes I forget about giving detail. It will be 2 Diamaris up front and 2 Tour HPs on back. I know that the Diamaris are supposedly sportier, but not to the point I can't trust the HPs to hold up.

Yes, I'm also talking about the 20s. EPDARKS, what type of Toyos and what type of shape are they in (read)?

JCL - for the reason I gave above, I think I'll be ok. I'm more comfortable with the rest swinging out than deal with understeer.

Thanks guys.

[JDM-20L]

Usually you can get the tire rolling diameter specifications, if you can get those for both tires and there within close specs of each other you should be safe.

I do not know what the tolerance for front to rear diameter discrepancy is? But I'd suggest trying to find it and comparing notes before you pull the trigger.

[Blade69]

JDM - I'm not changing sizes. They're still the stock sizes. I'm just thinking of using two different models. Both are Michelin Latitudes. But the fronts are Diamaris and the rear are Tour HPs.

[JDM-20L]

Originally Posted by Blade69

JDM - I'm not changing sizes. They're still the stock sizes. I'm just thinking of using two different models. Both are Michelin Latitudes. But the fronts are Diamaris and the rear are Tour HPs.

Yeah I got that part.. still there is usually a variation in rolling diameters between different model tires. even in the same specified sizes.

[Blade69]

JDM - I'm doing a search for that, but coming up empty. Got any data anywhere I can research this?