Mixing tyres?

[reg]

Had some amusing moments this weekend and have decieded that the sad looking rear 050's have to go. Question is I have Yokohama A043 215/45/16's and was planning to use 245/40 R17 [91Y] Eagle F1 GSD3 on the rear. I am new to the car so am not pushing it too hard but am interested to hear if anyone has used this combo or would think it may turn ugly! I plan to fit the F1's on the front in a few months time anyway. How would the 050's had worked with the Yoko's anyway when they were new?

[simonprelude]

I would not usually advocate mixing tyres, however as the fronts and rears are different spec anyway then I can't see it being too catastrophic.

I Always only ran RE010's but as you can no longer get hold of them then I am trying various different tyres, I ran GSD2's on the front with GSD3's on the rear and was not happy with them.

Now looking at alternatives and even considering importing RE010's from the states.

[TheQuietOne]

Hi Reg,

My advice is get the same make all round - and preferably the same tread pattern! I nearly wrote my car off when I first had it hitting a puddle and going sideways accross a dual carriageway. The mix I had then was Yoko's on the front and Pirelli P Zeros on the back. Have had F1's on there all round for the past 18,000 miles (one set!!!!!!!) and have not had one bad moment during the summer with hot roads and all through this winter even in the floods a few weeks back.

One thing that was pointed out to me originally when a lot of us were having trouble with tyres was that mixing brands means the side walls are different (in terms of strength), and this has a marked effect on handling and stability. If you change the fronts to F1's also expect about 500 miles of scrubbing in to feel slightly odd, but after that they should feel planted, progressive and very, very comforting if you get caught out in the rain!

Just my opinions, and I daresay we all have different priorities with tyres to some degree...

Cheers, Matt.

P.S. Simon and I are both running 3.2 manuals with the same alloys as yours FWIW;)!

[Senninha]

HI Reg,

Similar to Matt, my car came with Yoko fronts but Bridgestone rears and was not nice, particularly when wet weather arrived.

I followed Matt's lead and now have F1's all round and it delivers in all weathers.

HTH

Paul

[gsuds]

After being quite happy with the Toyo Proxes T1-Rs initially, grip has really taken a nosedive lately (well, over & above what's expected with January roads round here...) and to my horror I'm just about down to the treadwear indicator on the left rear after about 4K miles!

So thinking about GSD3s next time....

But it does rankle to change fronts with loadsa tread left on them!

Might try the combo first, but, as has been said before, have to watch out for mismatch issues.

[reg]

A short dig on the web and I turned up http://www.usautomotive.co.uk/ (http://www.usautomotive.co.uk/)

They were very helpful and gave me the following prices on RE010's .....Are you all sitting down ;)

Fronts £169 ea + VAT
Rears £182 ea + VAT

I also asked them about some HPS pads and discs for a comparison and these were £72 (front axle set), £63 (rear axle set) with the discs (one piece) coming in at £471.60 (set) all of these + VAT.

Can’t justify paying £423 for 2x rears when F1's are £232 fitted. I will probably do the rears and take it easy until I get the fronts sorted. I don’t tend to push my luck in the wet anyway.

[simonprelude]

Will they do a group buy discount ??


Fronts £169 ea + VAT
Rears £182 ea + VAT

[reg]

Will they do a group buy discount ??

They are saying to get a decent discount they need to buy in bulk, i.e. container loads. You could try asking I guess and see but are there that many people in the UK who would be willing to go for it?

Seriously I like 010's but even at 20% more I would have to really want that tyre!

[simonprelude]

Unless they have got them in stock anyway then there will be no joy, just had reply from Mark at Dali, the left rear is no longer available even in the states :(

[reg]

Unless they have got them in stock anyway then there will be no joy, just had reply from Mark at Dali, the left rear is no longer available even in the states :(

Have you tried the 040/050 in stock sizes? Its these or the F1's which are looking better by the minute.

[NSXGB]

I have just moved from the RE010's to the GS-D3's and I'm pleasantly surprised. They seem as good to me if not better than the 010 which I suppose you can put down to more up to date tyre technology?

The only thing that I'm not liking as much is the fact that they look narrower, but this may be just a trick of the eye.

[simonprelude]

I am currently working on another option, will let you know. However the tyres are not available in Europe :(