I never roate my tires on my 2003 Toyota Echo (front wheel drive) since new. Now with 49k miles the factory Bridgestone front tires wear near to the minimum safty tread marks. The rear tires still have some tread left. I am thinking of rotating the current rear tires to the front, and put a pair of new tires of different brand to the rear since the traction in the rear is more important for safty reason. Is this arrangement OK?
Different tires for front and back, is it OK?
- Thread starter sifan
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As long as the better ones are on the back, I'd do it.
JHZR2
Staff member
Its not a BMW (who reccomend NOT rotating). So whats so hard about rotating tires??? you wouldnt be buying two or four now if you had.
Id suggest you buy 4 identical tires from a shop that does free rotation (not wal mart, because youll have to wait so long to get them rotated, its just not worth it), then rotate them on or about the free schedule.
JMH
Id suggest you buy 4 identical tires from a shop that does free rotation (not wal mart, because youll have to wait so long to get them rotated, its just not worth it), then rotate them on or about the free schedule.
JMH
I sell tires. Don't know if it's ok or not, but I probably sell more tires in pairs than I do in sets! If it's NOT ok there's a lot of unsafe rides out there!!
Think I'd move or repost this to Tires and Wheels hoping Capri Racer would answer.
Bob
Think I'd move or repost this to Tires and Wheels hoping Capri Racer would answer.
Bob
Sure it's okay just get a similar tire. Similar in speed rating. If you didn't have OE tires I'd say similar in treadwear but OE tires are usually 1/2 the treadwear of the same tires bought aftermarket, so I'd look for a 350-450 rating which is a typical economy tire grip.
What is called suspension/steering on many wehicles are so crude that I'd never get nervous with similar grades (whether M+S rated, all season, treadwear etc.) but different tires on front and rear. Some difference might be felt but one could like it even better. With one person in rear handling feel could change much more as I'd expect.
I have two separate tires on my highway car. Thanks to the P.O.
But anyway I was told not to worry about it as long as the tread is similar as well as the ratings. So far I've had no issues with the stopping or handling with this car.
But anyway I was told not to worry about it as long as the tread is similar as well as the ratings. So far I've had no issues with the stopping or handling with this car.
You can mix tires. It is not recommended but possible. No offense, but you are driving an Echo, not exactly your sports sedan. New tires are always supposed to go on the rear and as long as you buy a matched pair for the same axle, you'll be OK until you can get the other two. Same size of course, and same performance type will get you through.
I look at this forum, too!
Obviously, 4 new tires is the ideal setup.
The overall risk is that the vehicle will do something unpredictable, especially in an emergency situation when you really don't want anything unpredictable happening.
So the next best thing is to put new tires, in pairs, on the rear. This is primarily to prevent the rear from hydroplaning (works for snow, too!), but there still is a risk that the tires aren't quite compatible handling wise. Keep in mind that the closer the new pair of tires are to the old pair, the less the risk. For example: Same brand would be better. Same type (speed rating, etc.) would be better.
Needless to say, most folks won't experience an emergency manuever, so the risk can easily be overstated. Nevertheless, it's something that we should all be aware of.
I once received a sidewall flat on an Alero. No one in town had a tire to match the OEMs, and I didn't want to wait for mail order. I went with 1 oddball, cheap, replacement in the rear. It drove OK, but tended to 'wander' once in awhile. I soon returned the tire to Walmart, and picked up matching ones on e-bay.
On an Echo, you might not notice much difference. With such small tires, the Echo might "wander" and follow the highway groves anyway. At 49K miles, I'm guessing the rear tires aren't that great either. If you have the 14" tires, you can get Kumho replacements from tirerack for $35 each. At this point, it's a no brainer. BWT -- these Kumhos are not poor tires...
On an Echo, you might not notice much difference. With such small tires, the Echo might "wander" and follow the highway groves anyway. At 49K miles, I'm guessing the rear tires aren't that great either. If you have the 14" tires, you can get Kumho replacements from tirerack for $35 each. At this point, it's a no brainer. BWT -- these Kumhos are not poor tires...
Why would anyone put the new ones on the Back?
Wouldn't you want the best tires on the front where most of the braking as well as your steering is. You guys amaze me sometimes.
With FWD it is even more important than with a RWD set up.
Wouldn't you want the best tires on the front where most of the braking as well as your steering is. You guys amaze me sometimes.
With FWD it is even more important than with a RWD set up.
I checked the Tirerack and even the Bridgestone web site, and could not find the same factory tire model of size 195/50R15. It looks like the factory tire model has been discontinued. Currently all Bridgestone tires of the matching size are of uni-directional design. I am not familiar with this type of tread design. Will it be ok to put a pair of uni-directional tires in the rear while the front tires are non-uni-directional?
For those dealers that are skeptical about new tires on the rear, the company puts on a demonstration - both wet and snow. You go around a paved circle and hit the water (or snow) and Whoop-de-doo!
Everyone leaves a believer.
Everyone leaves a believer.
As long as your back tires have better traction than the fronts, the worst you can get is predictable and easily controllable understeer. With significantly better tires on the front than back, snap-oversteer is a possibility. Play with your e-brake on snow to get a feel for that, then picture it happening at high speeds!
In my opinion, there is nothing detrimental to new and better tires on the back. You'll be limited by the traction of the front tires, just as you were before, without the possibility of sudden oversteer.
In my opinion, there is nothing detrimental to new and better tires on the back. You'll be limited by the traction of the front tires, just as you were before, without the possibility of sudden oversteer.
It doesn't matter how good your front tires are. If the rear tires don't have decent grip, the rear end will come around.
This has been hashed out a bazillion times and one of the automotive rags even did some testing to confirm it years ago.
It doesn't matter how good a grip your front tires have if the rear of the car is in front of them.
Eventually the tires with the least traction can end up in the front when stopping or cornering at the limit. It's convenient of the tires that are leading the parade are in fact on the car's front wheels.
You want the new ones on the back because it't the lighter half of the car, and in snow or rain with poor tires, will tend to let go very easily. Even with front wheel drive, the rear end of the vehicle wants to break loose in turns due to inertia, and with poor tires, it will. Easily.
Yes, all four tires is optimum. (Mandatory in a 4wd situation, btw, if you care to keep your transfer case.) Two at a time is fine.
Yes, all four tires is optimum. (Mandatory in a 4wd situation, btw, if you care to keep your transfer case.) Two at a time is fine.
Snow tire experts have always said that if you have snows they should be on all four wheels and should all be the same tire, and if you have studs all 4 tires should be studded, because otherwise you have traction differences between the disimilar tires, which can cause problems and a lack of control on ice and hard packed snow. I believe that you can also have traction differences between dissimilar tires of any type on any other surface, including gravel and paved roads, and that therefore all 4 tires should be the same.
If you want to get really technical, a tire with less tread will get better traction during dry in-line braking than one with full tread so it stands to reason that less tread on the front equals shorter stopping distances (generally speaking of course). All bets are off during hard braking on wet or contaminated (sand, gravel, etc) surfaces during cornering.
As was said, understeer is much easier to control than oversteer.
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