A&Q about 350Z
Q:
uhh they installed a Bridgestone Potenza 205/55R16 RE960AS on my car, but all the rest are Bridgestone Turenza 205/55R16 EL400. i really dont know how to find out thread depth and such. But thanks for your help unclebob.
A:
here's the deal, if the tread depth is a noticable difference (3/32"+)...or depending on the tire/car situation, even less, you may have a slight, or not-so-slight pull, when that tire set is on the front.
In other words, it may hamper your tire rotation intervals.
Now if you're like the average car owner, you don't pay much attention to tire rotation scedule anyway, so then it wouldn't matter anyway. Put the new tire on the rear, and you'll be good.
If you do pay attention to such things, and depending.....if it causes a pull that annoys you, you really have no choice but to replace the mating tire.
So worse case, you end up replacing 2 tires anyway.
A:
Wow, I'm soo happy I live in a place where lawyers don't chase ambulances.
A:
Hey, its the American way. I've already picked out my little plot in Canada
but I'm not allowed to say that because the Secret Service will hunt me down and say I hate George Bush... which is true.
Well, the other factor we seem to be ignoring is that often times cars are delivered from the factory with different sizes front and rear... some of the best performing vehicles on the road are that way; BMWs, Corvettes, Vipers. If a high-performance, 1G car can survive with 315mm rear and 245mm front rubber, then I think a stock civic can survive with one tire of a different manufacturer, especially when the driver doesn't know the difference.
The bottom line is that 90% of the drivers in the world couldn't tell the difference between a Z-rated Michelin performance tire and a skinny truck retread as far as how they act on the road. That's why things like ABS are invented so the panic driver can still stop when they mash the pedal to save the life of a rat crossing the street. That way they can effectively endanger everyone else on the road equally.
What I'm saying is, you can't really expect A) the driver to know the difference, B) the different tire to effectively alter the entire balance of the car in 99% of the driving situations, and C) the actual emergency handling of the car to be negatively influenced by one tire. Almost every driver on American roads sucks at emergency driving. One tire different won't make a hoot of difference. If they slam on the brakes, who knows... it might help stopping distance if its a better tire.
How many people are driving around with underinflated tires, bald tires, bad shocks, inoperative brake lights, a bad master cylinder... trust me, a single different tire is the least of the worries.
A:
^
agreed.
the different sized tires on corvettes and such are front to rear, however, not side to side as the problem would be in this case.
how do you go about rotating tires on a car with different front and rear sizes? wouldnt the outside of the front tires get horribly worn before the rest of the tire went bad? i guess if you own a porche/corvette/viper you can afford tires.
A:
You don't. Mine currently can't be rotated at all on my Impala SS. I have directional tires so they can't go side to side, and they are different front and rear so I can't rotate that way either.
A:
No, but Nanny Helen has her share of say in things.
Current NZ law, and I believe Ausie, and Japan are similar, is pretty clear about mis matched tyres on the same axle.
Its illegal.
You can of course put different tyres front and rear, some cars are designed with that in mind, and the suspension is set up accordingly, some are not, and you simple get some unbalanced handling, but its generaly not an issue.
(Although my Prelude will rotate around a corner a lot faster than it should.....
)