Can you mix tires brand between front and back on the x5?
 

The two rear tires are brand new.

The front are pretty bad the thread is showing on one.

The Michelin that are on the x5 are discontinued. Can I use different tires on the front and leave the one on the back?

Are the one in the back discontinue or the front? If the back are brand new you should be able to do an internet search and find the same tires for the front.

They are the same as the front they are the michelin energy hde called michelin last week and they said they are discontinued 2013 and they are trying to locate some

Most tire and vehicle manufacturers will say don't mix them, but I've seen so many tires mixed at the track that I think you can as long as you keep the sizes right and you keep the same tires on both sides (in other words, fronts match each other and rears match each other). With that much cord showing, I would be surprised if you didn't need rears too (check the inside tread), and if only one has cord showing maybe you need an alignment too.

The rear have like 12k on them the front are shot they are the original that came with the car.

have to agree as long as the tire sizes are adhered too then why not, but try to keep the same tread and tire on each axle......I love confusing people with my tire wear story, and here is my story I had the same wear at the rear as you, the garages could not dial out camber and couldnt see any worn suspension componenets and I really didnt want to start changing out parts in the hope they would hit on the problem and resolve it by chance. Was fed up of the rather stiff ride the OEM 19" alloys/wheels gave me, so I picked up a set of 17" OEM (same as the alloy and tire thats used for a spare)...softer ride and better for the crap roads out here......in addition to this benefit there is NO more uneven wear at rear or anywhere for that matter:confused:

(PS i also replaced the tires at rear when i had 19" alloys same wear appeared tooooo soon, so the 17" despite looking a bit small are fine)

On all wheel drive cars, the tread pattern has to be same on all 4 tires for AWD to perform properly.

What does a difference in tread pattern front to rear have to do with AWD proper performance?

Tread pattern doesn't matter for awd, just circumference matters.

Tread pattern and thus handling characteristics matters for DSC.

Even still, I'd imagine that as long as you pick a tire with similar specs, you'd be just fine. I wouldn't mix high performance summer tires with all-terrain mud sloggers, but 2 pairs of the same type ought to be alright.

The DSC can't be THAT sensitive... if you think about it, 99% of the time, all 4 tires are on a patch of roadway that varies a lot more than the tires themselves.. bits of gravel and sand, uneven wear, cracks, etc and it copes with that.

It isn't going to harm the DSC, just the driving experience.

DSC expects the front and rear to stick similarly. If they don't, it is either going to intervene too soon, or too late. Neither is good.

In terms of picking tires, you don't so much want similar specs front to rear (that is a given), but similar handling characteristics. You would want front and back to be equally sticky both laterally and under braking; break away on a wet road at around the same point, be similarly progressive, and so on.

Mixing tires can certainly be done. But if the tires don't match, handling will be compromised, particularly at the limit. Many drivers won't notice.

I think you can for sure but better consult your local tire shop.

the x5 will be fine with different tyres front to back, try to keep the same axle with the same tyres on though as on any war its not ideal to have 4 different tyread types and makes, but as far as the mechanical and error causing probs your worried about you will be fine in this vehicle. some 4x4 vehicles you have to have all 4 matching or they pull at each other and wear funny and cause fuel consumption problems but the e53 x5 is pretty basic all wheel drive system so no probs

I have Michelin's front & Continental rears. As long as both tires are the same on the same axle, and same class for all 4 (i.e. summer, winter, all-season), and same wheel circumference, it shouldn't matter. I haven't experienced one blip so far.

Staying away from what happens when driving at the limits because I don't think that is your concern and what one driver likes may be entirely different than another with both of them equal at the handling limits.

You can mix tread on the two front or the two rear. You can also mix side to side. Staying with the same full tread diameter is important.

Handling could be either compromised or improved depending on what tires you purchase and how you drive. DSC has no expectations, it intervenes to a tire(s) not getting traction, not late or early only when.

I would say that DTC has no expectations; it intervenes based on a difference in wheel speed.

DSC has expectations on how tires break loose, and brings in sensors for steering angle yaw, speed, lateral accelerations, longitudinal acceleration, and so on. The stability programs are based on the interaction of those variables, so different handling characteristics per tire will definitely have an impact.

FWIW not all tires the same size have the same rolling diameter. They vary slightly from design to design. Whether it is enough to cause problems I do not know. But I wouldn't run mixed tires purely from the performance stand point. In the event of an emergency maneuver you are going to have two different handling characteristics working against each other.

Whatever the labelled size, I would use a tire size calculator and stay within 1% difference, smallest to largest. I recall 4 revolutions per mile difference as a limit from BMW techs, and have used that myself. Many tire stores will use a max 4/32 tread difference in the exact same tire as a reuse limit, simply with respect to the rolling diameter difference.

You are correct, I was thinking of DTC. My point was that DSC or DTC in normal daily driving won't likely (key word likely) come into play. It isn't the optimum but done as an informed decision with tire height consideration it won't destroy anything in the running gear and is not a safety concern. Certainly it is better do at least those two and some will say all four but that doesn't always fit the pocketbook.

I don't think it will be a big problem if you have mixed tires, but there might be a change in ride characteristic of your ride.

I went today to have two front tires installed that I purchased online, and the tire place refused to install it as it will damage the transfer case since they are all wheel drive. Any truth to this?

Were the tyres the correct size?

I have mixed brands front and rear. No issues.

So long as your rolling diameters match factory specs, there should be no issues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes. But no guarantee it will damage the transfer case. The tire store will typically have a spec for the maximum difference they are comfortable with in rolling diameter. Mine is OK putting new tires on if the old ones have at least 60% tread remaining for the same size tires, based on a conversation I had last time I bought tires (four).

You have alignment issues on the corner where the severely worn tire is.

The tire store will put the new tires on the back and move the back tires to the front.

Yes, you can have different brands, but you should have them be the same size -- 235/65x17, or whatever. Do not mix tire sizes UNLESS you have staggered rims, then you have to keep the correct size on each respective corner. I forget, exactly, but the difference in circumference has to stay within 1.5 inches -- somebody has to confirm that figure. Dividing the circumference by pi (3.14159) gives the diameter. Dividing the difference in the circumference by pi gives the difference in diameter. 1.5 / 3.14159 = 0.47, or 1/2 inch. The front and rear tires have to be within 1/2 inch of the same diameter, else your X5 will not be happy.

No.

As already posted, and linked to, they need to be closer than that.

1/8" difference in diameter will result in a difference of four revolutions difference per mile. That is closer to the real limit. Less would be better.

The difference in a 235/65 and a 245/65 is 8 revs per mile, the 235 rolling more times in a mile (695 vs. 683). The difference in diameter is 0.5 inches, circumference is 1.2 inches.

I do not know that this within, or exceeds, the spec, but it is raw data and not a guess.

I spec'd out the factory staggered fitment, and it is as close to identical as I have ever seen. The fronts have a diameter of 28.661, the rears are 28.681. Circumference is 90.042 and 90.104, respectively. This is astounding for size matching of a tire. Revs per mile are 703.668, and 703.185, that's less than 0.5 revolutions per mile on staggered fitment.

My earlier math is correct, even if outside the bounds. I said then that I was not sure of the variance. I did read something about it, but don't recall what or where so I cannot check my reference. If one buys tires of the right size, the variance from front to rear should be within the allowable tolerance.

My X5 has a 245/65x17, but there are 4 of them so all is well.

The OP's larger issue is the tire wear. He needs to get his arms around the problems and cure them else whatever tires he buys will be toast again, soon.