I recently bought a VRS which overall i'm very happy with. However, during the buying process i neglected to look closely enough at the tyres. I've since noticed that they don't all match. They're all the same specification (225/40 R18 Y92) but the front two are Pirelli P-Zero Rosso, whereas one of the rears is a Pirelli P-Zero Nero & the other rear is a Nexen N8000.

 

The near-side front has 3mm of tread, the other three all have 4mm (with the Nexen appearing to be brand new). Ideally i'd like all four to match exactly but having just bought the car i could do with keeping other costs to a minimum, so i'm contemplating just changing one of the rears. Would it be better to swap the Nexen for another P-Zero Nero, or swap the Nero for another Nexen? - or would i really be much better off swapping both for two new Rosso's? 

Different tyres front to back is OK, but ideally they should be the same on each axle.

Swap both rears for something decent and rotate them to the front. Budget tyres don't belong on performance oriented tyres and you shouldn't only replace a single tyre unless the other one is nearly new

Personally I'd pair up the Pirellis on the rear and ditch the Nexen and look to match all four in due course. I may be being a tyre snob but I think Nexen are a mid range tyre whereas the Pirellis are top range. When I bought my Scout it had three makes of tyre on it and one of those was a new Nexen. In the event I replaced all four immediately with a set of four matching Falken all season tyres.

I'd consider nexen budget not mid range tbh.

For 18s, they're not an expensive size - uniroyal RS3 and vredstein ultrac sessanta are both ~£65, the Goodyear Eagle F1 AS2 is £75 and the Conti SC5 is £80 (all plus fitting) . My last car had 18s in an odd size and I was paying £160 a corner for Conti SC2s!

Thanks.

 

I've not heard of Nexen before and had suspected that they are either budget or mid-range. I reckon i'd be better to ditch the Nexen for another Pirelli Nero. When funds allow & when they next need changing, i can eventually ensure that all four are the same.

I think I'd splash out on a new set of four Hankook K120 Ventus V12 Evo 2 tyres, they're £66.50 a corner on Camskill at the moment.

On the subject of tyres, I saw a gorgeous Mercedes C Class 6.3 AMG the other day in Tesco car park, it had cheapy cheap budget Chinese 'Jinyu' tyres fitted, now that beggars belief!!

On the subject of tyres, I saw a gorgeous Mercedes C Class 6.3 AMG the other day in Tesco car park, it had cheapy cheap budget Chinese 'Jinyu' tyres fitted, now that beggars belief!!

 

I know where to find a Bentley with Westlake tyres. If you don't know then Westlake is a cheap Chinese tyre brand. Bentley + that = WTF?

 

About this topic: seems like all of these tyres are to be changed soon (I understand that min. tread depth is 3 mm in UK, right?). I'd try to find some affordable solution for changing them all for reasonable price. Otherwise probably there is no big difference between leaving them as they are or changing them this or that way.

Edited 14 September, 201510 yr by Jevpls

In the UK the legal limit for minimum depth of the tread on tyres is 1.6 millimetres, across the central ¾ of the tread around the complete circumference of the tyre.

Driven for 3 years on Nexen CP641 all season on my Octavia, i.e. 30000 miles and still 4 mm tread, never had any problems with grip while towing, in snow rain or mud.

They may be mid range but that does not make them crap.

 

Back to topic, I would wait until your finances are available and change all 5 tyres, you did not say what spare you had, could be a match for one of the rear.

 

I can not understand why some drivers of performance cars rely on the tyres to cope, while they drive to the maximum in the hope that brakes and tyres will be capable of stopping them at the last possible moment under all conditions, instead of driving to the conditions.

Your Nexen won't be nearly new. New tyres have about 7mm of tread.

As above, change all four when you can afford to.

You can get great tyre deals online. Try mytyes, oponeo or blackcircles.

Nexen are a good brand, I have a extra load  winter set for my R36 ,and they perform great up to 9 degrees  but the reviews of the N8000 mainly say great in wet, too soft sidewalls , I have Goodyear  F1s rest of year, did have Conti 5s which although good did not last . I like loads of tread so change at 4mm 

Thanks for the additional suggestions - gives me plenty to consider.