Importance of Matching Tires - Front/Rear

Nick1994

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Seems like my Genesis isn't the easiest on tires, with the rears wearing faster than the fronts. The rears are at about 5/32" and the fronts are about 7.5/32", the tires are Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 with 8,300 miles/6 months on them. With being so hard on tires, I'm not so sure I want to spend a whole lot if they're just going to wear out so fast.

It has staggered tires, so rotations are only possible from left to right, but the current set are also directional.

What I'm wondering is, is the importance of having matching pairs of tires on a car. Does it really matter? Inclement weather here isn't much of an issue.

I'm thinking of putting a lower cost tire on the rear, something like the Milestar MS932 XP+ (seems to have pretty good ratings) and a nice set on the front to keep it quiet, something like Pirelli Cinturato P7. They would be replaced in pairs, not at the same time as they are wearing quite differently.

The Milestars are around $120 each, compared to even my current Hankook's at $206 each (put on by dealer before I bought it in December).
 
I have 6K miles a new set of MS932's on my wife's Infiniti. Bought them at a Discount Tire store. I'm fully satisfied so far. So long as your car is not AWD, I say replace axle pairs as you wish.
 
Simplest answer is to get harder compound tires if it is all about cost per mile. Lower price may not necessarily address that
 
There can be some handling issues in situations like this. Tires have different levels of grip, vertical stiffness, torsional stiffness, response, recovery, damping, etc. and you could end up with some odd vehicle handling as a result. Just the difference in grip level from front to rear can drastically change the amount of oversteer or understeer you will experience.
 
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The biggest problem I see is that if you put a better wearing tire on the rear, that also means less grip - and the last thing you want is the rear tires locking up first.
 
Originally Posted by CapriRacer
The biggest problem I see is that if you put a better wearing tire on the rear, that also means less grip - and the last thing you want is the rear tires locking up first.

That's a good point, didn't think of that.

But the tires I'm thinking of are Pirellis for the front with a 70k tread warranty and a tread wear rating of 700 while for the rear the Milestars are a 40k mile warranty and a tread wear rating of 380.

I figure if I can only get 15k miles out of the rear tires with these pricier Hankooks, then I might as well try the Milestars for half the price.
 
i would probably just use a sale.. such as the recent triple stacking sale (over 200 off possible)
buy 4 tires
and if the rears wear out just replace the rears. then all 4 again.
 
5/32's with only 8,300 miles on them?? Wow that's a soft tire!

I would try and keep the tires matched, by the time your rear tires are at 2/32's your front's should be around 5/32's so you might as well just replace the set.

How about these? I'm not the BIGGEST Kumho fan, but they are decent tires and are reasonably priced. Something like these:



Kumho Majesty 9 Solus TA91

560 AA A rated, they should be just fine for you. Keep in mind, you are driving a relatively high-performance 4500 pound car. That's a lot of weight to carry for a lo-pro tire, but you should be able to get 40k out of a set, not 10k.
 
Kumho can make a great tire. They are what I use on my sportscar, as the tires were made for the specific car.
 
Woof. In all seriousness, I'd consider selling the 19s and dropping to 18s all-around. The 275/35R19 on the back is not a cheap tire size and you'll get better handling, performance, and NVH with a smaller, lighter pairing with a slightly bigger sidewall.
 
Oof, that's crazy. The Ventus Evo2 definitely shouldn't be wearing that fast but it is on a 4500 pound car. You could see if somebody is selling a set of rear OEM wheels to make it squared all around.
 
Originally Posted by SatinSilver
DTD lists some other size options to explore like putting 255/40r19's all the way around.



That's what I was thinking. It looks like the wheels are the same size, so doing the same tire all the way around and being able to rotate them might be a decent plan. In daily driving it's not going to upset the handling too much. You'd probably only see it driving 9/10th's or better and even then you'll have stability control to help out.
 
In braking the rear can swing about if there is an imbalance in traction. On ice does not take much, rain a bit, heavy rain or heavy braking it will pronounce itself.
 
Well, change of plans. I had been all decided I was going to get the Kumho's mentioned above when the time comes to replace them.

But last week I hit a really bad pothole. Today I went to Discount Tire for my rear tire which had a nail. The guy noticed my front tire had a big bulge in it, and I knew exactly where it came from. Rear tire was able to be patched.

The tire guy called Kumho and those tires are Tire Rack exclusives and they can't get them from overseas right now anyways.

I quickly checked Amazon while I was waiting and, voila, they had the Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus for $134 a tire for the front, Discount Tire wanted $210 each. They price matched and I'll get a matching pair tomorrow. It was too good of a deal to pass up, the Pirellis are being discontinued for the 2nd generation so Amazon's price was a closeout. I know from experience the 1st generations are awesome.

We'll see what happens in a few months when I need to replace the rears. Will need to do more research.

[Linked Image]
 
Wow thats insane.

I bought my escape with a new set of house brand tires from Carvana.

About 10k miles in, I caught a self tapping screw near the inner sidewall.

I knew that Discount tire wouldn't have that brand tire, so I walked in there and asked the guy to show me tread patterns of in stock tires.

I ended up with a GT Radial tire, the tread pattern was very close to the other ones.

I know that GT is produced by GITI which is a Chinese outfit. They have decent reviews and discount sells a lot of them.

Have had no road noise, or issues to report.
 
Originally Posted by Nick1994
Well, change of plans. I had been all decided I was going to get the Kumho's mentioned above when the time comes to replace them.

But last week I hit a really bad pothole. Today I went to Discount Tire for my rear tire which had a nail. The guy noticed my front tire had a big bulge in it, and I knew exactly where it came from. Rear tire was able to be patched.

The tire guy called Kumho and those tires are Tire Rack exclusives and they can't get them from overseas right now anyways.

I quickly checked Amazon while I was waiting and, voila, they had the Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus for $134 a tire for the front, Discount Tire wanted $210 each. They price matched and I'll get a matching pair tomorrow. It was too good of a deal to pass up, the Pirellis are being discontinued for the 2nd generation so Amazon's price was a closeout. I know from experience the 1st generations are awesome.

We'll see what happens in a few months when I need to replace the rears. Will need to do more research.



How's the TA91 a Tirerack exclusive when it also comes on the Kia Seltos from the factory?
 
The V12 on my car are gripping like crazy, and they haven't dissappeared yet. Managing 1.2G lateral now on stock suspension so couldn't be happier at 80 euro per tyre.
 
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