Temporarily mixing a summer tyre with all season tyres

[Patrick Bateman]

The better half's Golf GTI has now had its second structural failure on its all season tyres (Vredestein). Not seen it myself yet but it's badly cracked apparently and wouldn't hold pressure above 5psi.

Ultimately we're looking to bin the 19's and get a set of 18's anyway but this timing is awkward.

I know it's not recommended or ideal but she has 1 left over good Pirelli P Zero in the garage which could go on in the meantime as opposed to buying yet another Vredestein at £150 just for use for a month or whatever.

My question is, would you put an oddball tyre on the front or the rear? My gut says front.

As an aside, are Vredestein known for poor QC?? I have 35 and 30 profile 20" Continentals on my car and have had no issues in almost 40k miles.

[Sheepshanks]

I'd put it on the front too.

Had a pair of Vredestein All Seasons on the front of a Merc for years (probably too many years, as I didn't use it much, and the fronts last for ever) and they didn't give me any cause for concern. Sold the car with them still on.

[Domski86]

I've had a dodgy no name emergency summer on the front left of my yeti for a few years without major issue except a bit more slip in the deepest depths of winter. Slightly less power than a GTI though.

[Patrick Bateman]

Not pretty.

[MustangGT]

You really should match tyres on the same axle.

[Patrick Bateman]

I said pretty much that in my post...

[E-bmw]

A few comments from me.

You should be fine if you drive it in the knowledge that you have mis-matched tyres and sort it out (at least on that axle) ASAP.

Tyres splitting is not a QC issue it is the rubber compounds used that cause this.

[stevemcs]

Have you ever looked at the tyres on a taxi ? They normally have at least 1 winter tyre on them !

[Pica-Pica]

E-bmw said:

A few comments from me.

You should be fine if you drive it in the knowledge that you have mis-matched tyres and sort it out (at least on that axle) ASAP.

Tyres splitting is not a QC issue it is the rubber compounds used that cause this.

Agreed. Drive gently.
I have had circumferential cracks on Vredestein Quatrac 5s, all the way round about 10mm from wheel rim. I replaced them early, I went back to standard tyres (Toyo)

[Smint]

This is worrying, Vred Quatracs have been fitted to many of our family cars with Quatrac Pro currently on our Forester.
Never had the slightest issue with any, though none have had lower aspect ratio than the current 55s.

Running an odd but decent tyre wouldn't worry me at all, would happily leave it like that until the cold weather.

[Panamax]

If the front grips better on one side and better than the rears there's a real risk the back of your car will pull out and overtake the front.

If you insist on doing it at all (I wouldn't) then put the odd one on the back.

[Davie]

Interesting as I've run Quatracs for years, latterly Quatracs Pro in 235/55/17... first set on an XC70 then a set on a Transporter. I replaced the fronts earlier this year and they seem to have worn much faster than anticipated and seem to be flaking a bit on the tread blocks. Not terrible but noticeable, note so compared to previous tyres.

How old are your tyres?

[Patrick Bateman]

Meant to update this, fitted it to the front and haven't felt anything untoward pushing on in the dry.

Regarding age, they were only fitted December 2024.

[Patrick Bateman]

18” wheels now here and Michelin Cross Climate 3’s due to get fitted on Friday.

Just as well because yet another low pressure warning has appeared this evening and it looks like the front left tyre may well be cracked too from what I could see, will need to get it off for a proper look.

So of 4 new Vredesteins, that’s one with a sidewall bulge, one cracked around the entire circumference and one that’s likely cracked in the same manner but just not quite as catastrophic yet. Not impressed.

[Patrick Bateman]

Can confirm, 2 sections were beginning to go. Would have been a matter of time.

Also interesting that it's only been tyres on the front that have had this issue and not the rear. If it was purely the state of the roads I'd have thought it'd affect them all.

[Sheepshanks]

You said the tyres were fitted Dec24 but didn’t say how old they were - what’s the 4 digit date code on them?

[Smint]

Look how polished the inside edge of wheel is where the edge of the tyre makes contact regularly, have they seen the correct tyre pressures.

[E-bmw]

As the s[lits are all pretty much in a line at a specicic part of the tyre & also them being XL rated (so possibly expecting to be run at higher pressures) I suspect they may be run at a lower pressure than the ideal for the tyres rather than the ideal for the car/wheels.

[Patrick Bateman]

Dot code is 4224 so age shouldn't be a factor.

Pressures are a ridiculous 41psi so not sure that could be deemed too low for the tyres?

Having had a look at the wear on the centre of the tread being a bit worse, I'd suspect that's a touch high.

That's as per the VW data plate although online searches suggest this is notably higher than the earlier mark 7 Golfs for the same sizes.