Miss matched tyres on 4WD...
Discussion
Wife had a puncture on her 68 plate Suzuki Vitara Allgrip a few months back. No spare tyre (remember when use to be on the back door?) Tyre place came replaced it.
Her TPMS came on today so I took it to the same local place. Fixed the puncture on the back no problem.
They commented that the front tyres were miss-matched (the previous one replaced with a Michelin rather than the original Continental).
I hadn't noticed this and they agreed to put another Michelin on the front foc.
Question: We keep our cars until they are scrapped... Would this have over 1500 miles caused a problem with the transfer box like it may have in previous proper 4WD's?
Advice/insults appreciated.
Her TPMS came on today so I took it to the same local place. Fixed the puncture on the back no problem.
They commented that the front tyres were miss-matched (the previous one replaced with a Michelin rather than the original Continental).
I hadn't noticed this and they agreed to put another Michelin on the front foc.
Question: We keep our cars until they are scrapped... Would this have over 1500 miles caused a problem with the transfer box like it may have in previous proper 4WD's?
Advice/insults appreciated.
Edited by James jamie on Tuesday 24th September 22:53
Edited by James jamie on Tuesday 1st October 23:05
I was led to believe that on a 4wd they should always match, that said fronts still wear more quickly as they are doing 2 jobs (moving and steering) and so they are never going to stay exactly the same for long.
My mate has had a few Imprezas and always kept the 4 matched but I suspect it's more important on big power and big torque cars than an everyday driver.
In summary, Id say they should be matched but likely to not be a major issue if they aren't
Having read the thread again I'm not sure of you mean you have 2 same brand front and 2 same brand rear but not matched brand to front or if you've got 3 matches and a random, if it's the later I'd get it changed, even in fwd you should never mix on same axle
My mate has had a few Imprezas and always kept the 4 matched but I suspect it's more important on big power and big torque cars than an everyday driver.
In summary, Id say they should be matched but likely to not be a major issue if they aren't
Having read the thread again I'm not sure of you mean you have 2 same brand front and 2 same brand rear but not matched brand to front or if you've got 3 matches and a random, if it's the later I'd get it changed, even in fwd you should never mix on same axle
Edited by Roboticarm on Tuesday 24th September 20:51
I've had an Impreza and it came with 2 front Bridgestones, a Uniyroyal and Autogrip on the rear. I swapped out both the rears for new Bridgestones.
Keeping the same depth of tread on the same axle I think (I might be wrong though) is possibly more important, rather than makes, but considering compounds etc they may not wear at the same rate if they are different and thus you'll end up with uneven wear on the same axle, possibly causing problems. I'm no expert but I did ask a question about "winding up a diff" ages ago when I ran a space saver for a while and was worried if this will damage the diff on my old BMW.
I have a different Impreza now and as a matter of course will be changing all 4 at the same time then rotating when the wear gets slightly lower on the front.
tbh I'm not a fan of mis matched tyres on an axle, because as I said, different makes wear at different rates and probably doesn't make driving much fun if you've got 5mm on one side and 3mm on the other.
I'm sure someone with a bit more knowledge will be along soon to tell me how much of a doofus I am though lol.
Keeping the same depth of tread on the same axle I think (I might be wrong though) is possibly more important, rather than makes, but considering compounds etc they may not wear at the same rate if they are different and thus you'll end up with uneven wear on the same axle, possibly causing problems. I'm no expert but I did ask a question about "winding up a diff" ages ago when I ran a space saver for a while and was worried if this will damage the diff on my old BMW.
I have a different Impreza now and as a matter of course will be changing all 4 at the same time then rotating when the wear gets slightly lower on the front.
tbh I'm not a fan of mis matched tyres on an axle, because as I said, different makes wear at different rates and probably doesn't make driving much fun if you've got 5mm on one side and 3mm on the other.
I'm sure someone with a bit more knowledge will be along soon to tell me how much of a doofus I am though lol.
Cheers for the comments.
I'm a dinosaur in old school lever and clunks rather than electronics. First time I've driven it. It's got a Sport, Snow and Lock mode which drops out at 38mph.
It's been used on muddy fields and roads so the box will have kicked in.
Good point on different compound wear... Didn't think of that.
I was thinking also about braking differences between different tyres but I guess the electronics would compensate for that.
Anywoo hopefully no damage done.
Cheers 👍
I'm a dinosaur in old school lever and clunks rather than electronics. First time I've driven it. It's got a Sport, Snow and Lock mode which drops out at 38mph.
It's been used on muddy fields and roads so the box will have kicked in.
Good point on different compound wear... Didn't think of that.
I was thinking also about braking differences between different tyres but I guess the electronics would compensate for that.
Anywoo hopefully no damage done.
Cheers 👍
My Merc R-class (4WD) has mismatched tyres front and rear, although matched by axle. It's done about 60k miles with various mismatched tyres and as so far hasn't complained.
The tyres are 5-6mm mid-specs all round and trying to drive a 2.2 ton bus in any sporty manner is ridiculous, and as such the car realistically lives quite an easy life so I'm not too bothered about the mismatch.
The tyres are 5-6mm mid-specs all round and trying to drive a 2.2 ton bus in any sporty manner is ridiculous, and as such the car realistically lives quite an easy life so I'm not too bothered about the mismatch.
If it's not different enough to have caused your wheel sensors to throw a code then it will be fine. suzuki have been doing 4x4 a long time now. If you are really intending to keep this car until its fit for the scrap yard then the only thing i'd be worried about with a suzuki would be rust....as with pretty much most little japanese cars....the mechanicals will outlast everything else if its serviced and looked after.
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