dme361

I had a flat on the front and now I have tires with 10/32" and 7/32" tread on the front. 5/32" on both of the rears. Is this too much for the trans to handle?

Should I buy a new tire to match the 10/32" tread? Skim the 10/32" down to 7/32" to match the other tire? Or just keep driving?

Thanks

thomas1

Oh man here goes the debate, Tire dealers (almost all of them) will tell you time for new tires....But quite frankly just figure what the real difference in circumference is for the two different tires? Does it really matter? So go the questions. I guess traction differences etc are also in the equation. If it were me, well I would roll along, but I am sure the soothsayers are going to tell me otherwise.

jfelbab

I'd definitely replace the two 5/32" rears with new tires. Since I drive on a lot of wet and sometimes snowy expressways, I replace my tires as a matched set when one gets to 5/32" for safety reasons. IMO, I want to keep myself and my loved ones safe and tires are not that expensive. They also could make the difference, in an emergency situation, in what could be a life/death situation.

Good read:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=157

lex_rx

Better tires ALWAYS in rears.

dme361

Sorry, but this doesn't make sense. Better tires have better traction and resistance to hydroplaning, so they should be in the front on FWD cars.

If better tires were always in the rear, we would never rotate tires until we wore out the fronts. Then we would move the rears to the front and put new tires on the rear.

lex_rx

It is sort of counter intuitive but search for oversteering and you'll see what I mean. Even more important during winter. I remember one of my colleagues coming in late on a snowy day. He told me that he spun his car into the ditch. I asked him if he only had two winter tires and in fronts. He said "how did you know?"

neelnaik

@dme361 New tires go in the back to prevent oversteer. It the front hydroplanes, the car will understeer, which is easier to correct than oversteer. If the rear tires hydroplane, the rear end of the car will kick loose, resulting in oversteer.

See link for more info

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=52

dme361

Yes, this is counter-intuitive. But it's hard to disagree with TireRack's testing.

Thanks for the great advice.