This is for a company car (2011 Ford Expedition) that we're using on a 11 hour trip- I noticed on a stop-over that on the left front and left rear are Goodyear Wrangler SR/A, and on the right front and right rear are Continental Contitrac TR. The car drove OK to the destination but I'm wondering if I should do something
1) take the car now to have someone rotate the tires so the same brands are paired on the same axles.
2) wait until after the return trip and have someone pair the tires.
3) Leave as is.
4) something else
The tires look fairly new with decent tread but I do not know when they were installled or if they were installed at different times
Hope this all makes sense- thanks
Different tires- same axle
- Thread starter lange
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Do it now, don't want insurance to notice after an accident...
Leave it as is. It will be fine as long as they are the same size and speed rating. If it makes you feel better, you could swap a front with a rear to have the same tires on the same axle, but it's a company car, so up to you really.
When my wife and I were poor college kids, I drove junk cars with three different brand tires and it was fine, even in snow storms. Even now my wife's Maxx has Cooper CS4's on the front and Guardsman Plus on the rear and it drives great.
My companies Dodge Mini-Van has 3 different makes of tires on it though, they're all the same size. We only use the van localy for running samples from one lab/hospital to another. It runs/rolls fine winter/summer.
Yeah but a donut is supposed to be temporary use for 50 miles or less.
An 11 hour trip is a LONG trip. The OP's concern is justifiable, even though it's not his personal vehicle. There might be extra drive train wear in the differential, for example.
I am sure it is going to boil down to the difference in diameter of the tires, regardless of brand name. If they are the same diameter then don't worry about it. How will you know unless you carefully measure them as the size varies between brands even with the same nominal size on the sidewall.
Originally Posted By: datech
How will you know unless you carefully measure them as the size varies between brands even with the same nominal size on the sidewall.
Originally Posted By: datech
There might be extra drive train wear in the differential, for example.
I've ran diffrent tires on my car for years, I dont think it matters.
But with that said, when its snowing, raining, or offroading the best thing for your car is to have same tires on same axle.
For my winter trip I made use I have same tires on same axle.
It's a non issue IMO. I have 3 different types of tires on my van. The 2 on the front, which is the drive axle, both match. But both rears are different from each other, which are different from the front. My van tracks nicely and was just fine in the snow. It also does fine on 4 hour trips that I make frequently.
Strange that they are mixed side to side. Usually when you see that the front has different than the back.
Wonder if they ran over something with either the left or the right at some point
It really is best to have the same tires across the axle. Different tires have different traction characteristics, and if you have two and two available, its easy enough to just put the matching tires on the same axle. If they are all the same size, wear, etc, it probably won't ruin anything by having having him how they are now, but all tire manufacuters as well as the Tia will tell you to keep matching ties on the same axle.
Additional thoughts:
The idea behind having 4 of the same tires is so the handling characteristics are the same and the vehicle behaves as benignly as it can. Having an odd tire on the vehicle creates a situation where one corner is doing something different than the other corner - and this is particularly true for the front positions.
So having one side with one brand and the other side with a different brand not only is puzzling (Why would any mechanic not know to pair tires on an axle?) , but also effectively doubles the chance that the car will behave oddly - and you usually don't figure this out until it is too late.
I'd recommend getting the same brand on a given axle.
Originally Posted By: lange
Thanks for the replies- additional notes- looked at the tires again, the four tires are the same size (265 70 R17) but the load/speed rating on the Goodyear is 113R while the Continental is 113S
Are the Goodyear tires Wrangler SR-A? They don't seem to have a very good reputation so maybe they'd do better up front.
Could it be that you have a couple of bent wheels and somebody decided to move those to the back but neglected to tell you about it?
Company car is the big thing here...is it your responsibility? If not, screw it. I doubt it's unsafe. If AWD, it may be slightly harder on the AWD system, but I highly doubt it matters in an Expedition. It's not a Euro car with directional tires.
My truck at work just got its third set of tires at 40K mi. Yes, third set. Yokohama Avids again. I have noticed a handful of other company vehicles with mismatched tires though, but that could have been due to unrepairable damage or something. They just got completely worn down on the truck I drive.
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