By now, we should all know that you should never mix tires on the same axle, but people often wonder whether it's a good idea to mix different brands of tires between the front and rear of the car.
To find out, I started with all four tires the same premium Continental SportContact 6, then switched to another premium brand (Michelin Pilot Sport 4S) rear tire, then a midrange kumho PS91 rear tire, then a budget rear tire.
These are the results of what changed in both subjective handling, and wet lap times.
i need advice. I have 2 tires michelin alpin 4 two year old and new 2 tires goodyear 9+. The car is astra g caravan . Should I put new tires front or back for winter season. Thanks for Your time.
I have a 535 with mixed sizes 245/45/R18 fronts and 275/40/R18 rears. I cant find a matching front and rear set so can get PS4 fronts and PSS rear or GYA5 front GYSS rear. What would you recommend?
Without testing each combination it's nearly impossible to know which would be best. Neither seem great as both will have a softer sidewalled tire on the steer axle.
Would either be better than the GYA3 all round?
Again, we'd have to test to really find out, that's a really tricky question! I wouldn't be surprised if you can get the GYSS in your front size soon, it might be worth asking goodyear.
Good video as always.
My 9 year old MX5 NC has, got a horrible mixture of tires on it. 7 year old Bridgestone OEM tires on the back, one Michelin Supersport on the front ( no longer made ) and one Nexen N Fera that the local Mazda dealership put on af the last MOT :( I don't drive fast nowadays but even so, horrible combination.
I once had Michelin PS3's (205/16) on a Yaris diesel at the dront and found some old Yokohama Parada spec 2's in the garage on the back. In in the rain it would oversteer on any corner. I once did a 45 degree spin in front of a granny at a roundabout when I didn't manage to catch it in time. Most oversteery Yaris ever.
The old Yokohama A520 tires were the best tire ever in the dry,. the worst ever in even 1mm of snow
Silly question i am sure, but would it have been worth getting a time of the mid and budget range tires on both the front and back as a point of comparison?
i.e. kumho on front and back, then budget tires on both front and back.
I know you can't go back and do the tests now, but just curious if they were done and not shown.
If you check a few videos ago, it's been done as part of the big uuhp tire test :)
Apologies. Obvious now, but didn't realise that it was the same track and tire.
So the mid ranged mixed tires were 2 seconds a lap slower than a full set of mid ranged tires.
Really does show that if you get a car with cheap tires you are better to wait and get a full set of premium than to only change the front or back when wear reaches a point.