My front tires are looking really bald. I went to America's Tire Company to get a quote on some run-flats and he suggest I buy 2 new ones and put them in the back and move the ones from the back to the front? What the heck?

My dealership in on strike here in Mountain View, Ca. The San Francisco dealership to overbooked due to Mt View owner coming to SF to get their MINIs serviced.

So, I'm thinking Amercia's Tire Company should be fine. Does anyone have any thoughts on that? I want to keep using run-flats.

Thanks!

 

My thought is, don't do that. Get 4 new tires, preferably non runflats. Tirerack will advise you, suggest an installer and ship your tires to the installer. I would do the switch you suggest on my pickup truck, put never on the mini or similar type car.

 

Yes the advice was correct. If you want to keep runflats use the same size as originals and put the new tires on the rear and the older two on the front. For best tread wear rotate tires front to back every 4000 miles, however in your case this won't work so good since the new tires aren't going to wear down much in the back compared to the fronts.

If you don't want to keep runflats then replace all four tires- usually you can get a decent price because runflats tend to be very expensive.

The tires that are newer or have more tread go on the back to reduce the risk of hydroplaning in wet conditions. Front tires with lower tread will steer ok in the wet but won't follow well and will tend to hydroplane. In dry conditions it doesn't matter. Front tires are used for steering braking and acceleration so they always get more wear in a shorter time.

 

Outside of the fact they are more expensive, what is the downside of run-flats?

 

Runflats give only certain sizes that will work in the MINI-
205/45-17 or 195/55-16 and no 15" sizes.

They handle more roughly than some non runflat tires

Tire selection is very limited for summer or All season tires

They wear faster than some non runflat All Season tires

They are not as good for cold and snowy weather vs non runflat All Season tires.

They don't handle as well as some Extreme and Max Performance Summer tires for performance driving.

They are difficult to work with for a shop that doesn't usually deal with runflat tires- need special machines to mount or dismount runflats.

They are usually fairly heavy for a given tire size.

Due to limited sizes the sidewalls are stiff vs non runflats so shock can be transmitted to the rims or supsension easily when hitting a large pothole or bump in the road. Risk of damage can be greater.

 

The following is from Tire Rack
Ideally tires should be replaced in complete sets and rotated throughout their life to equalize front-to-rear and side-to-side wear quantity while enhancing each tire’s wear quality. However when tires are replaced in pairs, the new pair of tires should always be installed on the rear axle and the existing worn tires moved to the front.
While insufficient tire rotation intervals or out-of-adjustment wheel alignment angles often caused the differences in front-to-rear and side-to-side tire wear rates in the first place, the need to keep deeper treaded tires on the rear axle to resist oversteer conditions caused by wet road hydroplaning is very important. Unfortunately this precludes the future possibility of ever rotating tires on front-wheel drive vehicles. The only way to escape repetitively being forced to run mismatched tires is to install a complete set of new tires.

 

Thank you, Minihune. I like the idea of runflats simply because there is no spare. I understand they are more expensive. I think they were like $180 at America's Tire Company right next to my dealership. I've have good experiences in the past with my RX-7 & Prelude, so I may have to go to them, since my dealership is still on strike. Don't get me wrong, I'm with the service personnel on this one.

Anyway, I think my MINI will last a month or two before I will start to get into trouble.

 

One member told me to come in here for the answer to my question, but I don't see it.

Is there a prohibition on running different brand tires, one set on the front, different set on the rear.

Other than it being the bane of purists, the cool and OCD types, is there a physical reason why it can't be done?

As as I said in my other post, my rear tires have about 15,000 miles left, my front about 3000 to 4000. I prefer to not pollute the environment by tossing tires into the landfill that have 15,000 miles left.

So just wondering. Details as to why this should not be done appreciated over "Well I wouldn't do that" opinions.

Duly note that most tire sites always recommend replacing all four tires. At least all the sites I have been to.

 

You can definitely replace the tires one at a time, I've done it. While not the recommendation for the purist, it will work. I replaced the oem's with Kumho SPT runflats and are happy with them. I think they are better riding than the oem's. They also don't grab longitudinal variations in the road that used to pull the car to one side or another. Got 'em from America's Tire.

Since you're in SF, snow is likely not an issue. I would follow the advice for putting the new tires on the rear. I've heard the hydroplaning issue from a couple of different tire people.

Happy Motoring!

 

Thank you much.

Sidenote: I won a $20 bet on snow in San Francisco. I told someone that it has snowed in San Francisco. Rare, but it has happened, maybe every 100 years or so. They said I was full of it, $20 wager. We went on the Net, saw pics of snow in San Francisco, money inserted into left front pocket.

 

Oh well, guess on the price I have found, $60 a tire, I will simply get 4 tires and save the two good Pirellis as spares, or heck maybe sell em on Craigs List of $25. Know if I would have seen the P3000 on Craigs I would have snapped em up.

Thanks for the help. Tire Rack said what you said, by the way. One can mix the tires, but to make sure the front and back work the same. Buy I don't know tech on tires, so I sure would not be able to tell if the tires are compatible.

 

Thanks, NoMowog. I'll look into the Kumhos at ATC. Yeah, it rarely snows here.