Ok to Mix and Match Tire brands ?

[Rad Hatter]

I was running Yokos all round on my 3.2
Had 6 nails (3 in each) of the rears over 12 mths all plugged.
Finally decided to change the rears and couldnt find Yokos only 245's not 225's as recommended, so I bought a pair of Goodyear Eagle LS.

Fitted them and then last weekend about one kilometer from my garage on a cool weather morning
(19 degrees Celcius ) on a slow uphill overpass bend literally 25kph and had an off road excursion when the rear did a 180 on me - combination of wet and oil (I guesss) ...luckily no collision as it was at 6am on a Sunday morning !

Could this spin also be down to the mix and match brands of tires ?
Is it Okay to mix brands on the front and rear ?
Any suggestions or recommendations as to what I should do
(Street driving only)..


Cheers
Rich

[3.2 CAB]

I don't think that brand matching is a problem, as long as the tread pattern, composition, and type are about the same. I have had TOYO proxis paired up with YOKO rears in the past, no problem at all.

[tcar]

Not a good idea, generally.

Excursion could have been result of new rubber, though.

[gtihop]

You can mix brands although I don't like to, but the speed rating must be the same.

[The Turk]

I put a set of Goodyear F1's on the rear of my car recently, they didn't grab very good at first and would spin easily, after a hundred miles or so they started working really good.
Tires need a few hundred miles to break in, I think it has something to do with the mold release.

[burgermeister]

Generally mix & match is a bad idea. Tires have specific curves of slip angle vs. lateral force & vertical load, as well as ultimate adhesion, based on tread, rubber & sidewall design.

As long as the front tires produce equal or greater slip angles for a given set of conditions than the rear, all will remain well, with the penalty of more understeer. This is one of the reasons the rears are wider & lower profile than the fronts - helps make the car understeer.

But if the rears produce greater slip angles than the fronts, you will get your car closer to a naturally oversteering vehicle, which will change the cornering behaviour of the car - making it more prone to spinouts.

In an extreme case, you could turn your 911 into a basically oversteering vehicle (which, as built, it is not), which means at some speed (termed critical speed) it will become very difficult to control, even driving in a straight line.

Personally, on any car that gets driven fast or near its handling limits, I'd be nervous mixing 3 year old tires with new tires, let alone using different brands or models...

[Bill Douglas]

Check your tire pressures. The last set the tire place put on were so over inflated I'm suprised they didn't pop.

Yup tires take a while to break in. I don't drive extremely fast, cough spluter, so I mix brands front and back with no problems.

[Hard-Deck]

New tires "sweat" oil from manufacturing. It takes ~500 miles to break them in. Careful.

I used to be a certified BFG tire guy. Mixing brands is not bad, just keep the right sizes and keep speed ratings correct.

[rusnak]

+1 on what Burgermeister said. Very well explained.

I know people (myself included) who have had some VERY funky handling after mixing tire brands. I suspect part of it may have been that the rears were new. My friend reported funky handling on a 944 turbo, mine is a 911 3.2.

[javadog]

Rich,

One other point. Tires take some time and miles to heat up and will not grip as well cold as they will once driven a while. Some tires will take a little longer to warm up than others and so that's another argument for not mixing brands. It can change the oversteer/understeer balance.

My guess is most of your problem came from the newness of the tires but since you had the problem so close to where you started out that day....

JR

[Rad Hatter]

Thank you all for your advice. I think i will change to the same brand Yoko's I had on before which were brilliant however it appears that you guys often run 245/45/16 Rear, 205/50/16 Front.
My rears are now 225's.

Alternatively I could buy a set of Goodyear Eagle LS for the front 205/50/16 ?

If I went for the higher fatter Yokos would I need to roll my arches?
My car is slightly lowered to Eurospec stds

If you all still have advice about different brands or sizes please keep them coming. This forum is brilliant !

Cheers

Rich

[Rad Hatter]

Would 245/45/16 Rear, 205/50/16 Front be alright with my 8+7 Fuchs?
Would I need to roll the arches?

Any suggested tires you like that will fill out the arches ...for street use, roads mixed concrete and tarmac + prone to wet and oily conditions?
Appreciate your advice.

[Bill Douglas]

I suspect you will need 18mm (or thereabouts) spacers to fill in the wheel arches.

Are you in Stanley Bay?

[Rad Hatter]

Hi Bill sent you an email.
Im in Mid Levels
93646769 give me a buzz mate
Rich