car tyres.

[owdamer]

Is is best to replace car tyres in pairs, ie front pair & rear pair, or is it ok to just replace one.
My nearside rear needs replacing as its down to the wear indicators and has a slow puncture. I was thinking or replacing both rears with a pair of michelins as thats whats already fitted, but the offside one still has at least 5mm left so i dont really want to bin it. I can't use it as a spare as it has a spacesaver spare as standard....
options.
1. buy one new michelin eco.
2. buy 2 pirelli p6000
3. buy 2 michelin eco.
Suggestions?

[iCraig]

Hi,

It is FWD or RWD?

[UnknownStuntm...]

option 2. If you think you'll like them and your car is FWD, put the new ones on the front too. The only time I'd change a single tyre is if I'm selling the car, or I'd just had a new set fitted and promptly (within 500 miles) buggered one.

[owdamer]

[iCraig]

As its FWD it doesn't matter huge amounts about the rear, you'd get away with replacing only one side.
Although most tyre fitters will say replace both on the same axle, but its not detrimental. If it was your fronts then yes, get both replaced at this time of year.

[Keir]

come on its a focus..... just replace the 1 tyre and carry on. you will be wasting money buying 2 tyres when its not needed. its hardly a supercar!
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[rotax81]

[Robby]

I would also just do the one - but you're definately on the right track with buying decent branded tyres.

My car (smart roadster) currently has 4 budget tyres on it, and 2 were fitted just before I bought it. They're terrible, shit grip in the wet and no feel in the dry. My last smartie had far better grip from its bridgestones, and they were an inch narrower.

[neatbik]

Agree with robby, 'cheap' tyres arent worth having. They dont grip, and they wear out quick too.
Ive had the Pirelli p6000's on my focus, after they wore out i put some Avons on and they are pretty good, especially in the wet (but its our 'family' car, so i aint saying anymore than that )

[cagiva gezzer]

[plugger147]

I was going to post something similar cagiva gezzer, but if the one tyre is 5mm then just get the one unless you've got one that's pretty shagged on the front then get 2 and put the decent ones on the rear.
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[Phil_G]

[Dischord]

swap in pairs and swap front to rear or vice versa every few months or so to get the most out of each tyre.

Goodyear eagle f1 is a fantastic tyre for it's price! Wet roads never bothered me and in the dry it was great.
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[Phoenix]

If both tyres are at about the same wear I'd replace both, but if one still has loads left i'd just replace the one, no matter what axle, unless there was some uneven wear on the other side. It won't make sod all difference, maybe on a Bugatti Veyron it would but not anything else. Certainly would love to see an accident report that stated the cause of the accident to be failure to replace both tyres as a pair, it's just marketing rubbish and tyre companies covering their arses incase anything happens, don't forget to wear your safety glasses this Christmas while cracking walnuts.

[Kickstart]

Hi

I would be tempted to replace both. But what state is the spare tyre in? Fair chance that someone has but a knackered tyre as the spare and used the decent spare on the car. Might well be worth sticking the half decent rear as the spare.

Or if the spare is half decent then use it to replace the knackered rear tyre.

There should not really be that much difference in wear between the 2 rear tyres, so check there isn't a reason for it (eg, bent rear suspension).

All the best

Keith
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[Phoenix]

His spare is a spacesaver. If for some reason only one tyre was changed at some point, for a puncture/blowout etc then they'll never wear evenly until they're replaced at the same time again which means wasting half a good tyre.

I'm a cheapskate so would just swap the dead one over and leave the half good one where it is, still can't think of a good reason to swap both at the same time, maybe if you're gonna put 2 totally different types of a tyre on like a winter grip tyre and a soft summer tyre is already on the other side, but nobody would do that anyway.

[sickpup]

Doesn't anyone rotate their tyres these days?

[owdamer]

Just looking at the MOT history for my car and it shows it failed its first MOT in March last year as the offside front was below the limit and an advisory was issued that the nearside front was close to the limit. Mileage was 26,500 miles.
I'm guessing that the oem tyres were still fitted to the car and that the owner replaced both fronts with the Dunlops it now wears.
I bought the car 12 months later with 36,000 miles on it and its now showing 43,000.
The tyre that is worn has had a slow puncture for quite a while so that has probably accellerated the wear on it.
The car hasn't had any recorded damage and it stops and steers straigh so the only reason i could see for there being such a difference to the wear on the rear tyres is that one has been replaced at some point. I wouldn't be surprised if the one that needs replacing is one of the original tyres that were fitted from new.
I'd ideally like to have 4 matching tyres on it and the easiest way would be to buy a pair of dunlops for the back to match the front, but i've never been a fan of dunlops to be honest. I know its a car and its not really as important as on a bike, but i want good tyres.
Last time i bought tyres for a car it was budget tyres for my mondy and i hated them coz the car never felt stable on fast roads.

[owdamer]

[Stelmer]

The leasing company on my work car will only change a tyre if it's down to 2mm.

Even if one front is 4mm and the other one is 2mm then the 4mm stays on till it gets to 2mm.

[ajb]

[owdamer]

[1016]

beat me to it ajb!

[owdamer]

[sickpup]