Main dealer used car - odd tyres

[cjb211]

Whilst washing the M3 this weekend I saw that i have conti's on the rear and michelin's on the front. Now i'm sure this is not really a problem, but i would never put different brands of tyre on my car, even if they were matching on each axle. I bought the car from bmw 4 months or so ago... seems a bit substandard to have tyres that dont match from a main dealer dont you think?

[mmm-five]

It matters very little that you have different tyres front and back as the two ends rarely operate in unison. Otherwise you'd always be swapping 4 tyres every time one was bald - as having one tyre 4mm lower than the other 3 is more unsettling than having two PS2s on the front and 2 SportContacts on the rear.

Axle-matching is much more important.

[Pork]

mmm-five said:

It matters very little that you have different tyres front and back as the two ends rarely operate in unison. Otherwise you'd always be swapping 4 tyres every time one was bald - as having one tyre 4mm lower than the other 3 is more unsettling than having two PS2s on the front and 2 SportContacts on the rear.

Axle-matching is much more important.

Interesting stuff. I was always lead to believe that it was a problem with the M3's...so much so, I've put Conti's on my car last time and will be doing so again soon as the fronts still have loads of life in them and dont want to chuff a grand for four PS2's and waste two good fronts.

I never understood why on a 2wd car but have heard lots of poeple say not to mix and match.

[-Z-]

Count yourself lucky, my mate bought a 350Z from a main dealer which, at the back, had ditchfinders on one side and something good on the other.

Only found this out after he had an incident with spinning coming off a roundabout, driving sensibly in the rain with all the electronics on!

[dan101smith]

Not uncommon for dealers to replace tyres at or close to the limit with part-worn tyres on AUC cars, so doesn't surprise me they'd have different brands front/rear. Guess it depends on what they have lying around at the time.

Edited by dan101smith on Tuesday 17th March 08:40