All season tyre choices

[pmknowles]

Front & back is fine. It's mixing on the same axle that's bad.

No, if you have one set of tyres which is gripping better than the other you can induce 'snaking' in the vehicle - check out HonestJohn and others

 

[securespark]

And more grippy at the rear is ok.

In the 80s and 90s, I used to put the deeper tread/ new rubber on the front. No tyre fitter told me different.

In the 2000s, I was told by tyre fitters it is recommended to fit the new or deeper tread on the rear to minimise the risk of oversteer (where the back end loses grip).

Oversteer is a lot harder to control than understeer, hence why new tyres are fitted to the back regardless of drive (front, rear or 4 WD).

If tyres on the front with less grip were to understeer (where the front end loses its grip), it would be less dangerous and easier to control.

Edited for clarity.

 

[tsedge]

Well I am in the waiting room while they are done, can't wait to see how it feels with the new rubber.

Spent ages looking for the locking wheel nut key until I remembered it didn't come with any locking wheel nuts!

 

[tsedge]

On the question of mixing all-season and other tyre types on two different axles and possible 'snaking', I am sceptical this is likely to be a problem. My car is rear drive only and this where the all seasons will be.

Front wheel braking should be unaffected as I am not changing the tyres there.

If the car doesn't feel happy or stable with the mix, I'll replace the fronts to match.

Anyway, I will report back and tell if I end up in a hedge!

 

[pmknowles]

And more grippy at the rear is ok.
Although I personally would not do it because I have a rubber fetish…

If you're driving on an icy road having grippy tyres on the back is fine until you come to a corner. If you turn the wheel and the front wheels lose grip you have no braking effort on the front and rear wheels gripping in a straight line to push you off the road....

 

[securespark]

The idea is that it is easier to control the loss of grip at the front end with grippier rubber behind.

 

[tsedge]

Well so far it drives really well, but only dry roads today. Seems quieter at the back, but I am not sure. Will report back when I've driven in all weathers.

The tracking was way out front and back, which I do wonder if it might have been like that from the factory. Didn't seem to have created asymmetrical wear though.

In terms of too much rear grip vs front, that's likely to promote understeer, which should be easy to detect. Really though, unless things are at the limit in tricky conditions I doubt it will be any different and I never take the car near the limit anyway.

 

[APMG]

Noticed my "rear" keeps kicking out after going round some round abouts / turning out of junctions even without giving it much welly.

Rear two are 3.5/4mm, fronts are 6.0 / 5.5.

I am going to get the rear to swapped as its very dodgy specially when the roads are slightly colder.

Cross Climates seem to be decent, what did most settle with?

 

[tsedge]

After a couple of weeks in all weathers, I can confirm I am still here with my rears on All Season Michelin Cross Climate 2s and the fronts still on the original Chinese summer tyres.

No handling issues, everything is great and rear grip seems better, no signs of slippage (used to spin a bit backing onto my drive with the old tires, none of that with the new ones).

So it may not be recommended to mix types, but I am not having any problems. YMMV.