Is it sensible to have  2 different makes of all weather tyres on the front and back? I would like to try the Nokian Weatherproof as the fronts are nearly worn down too far but I just put new Bridgestone A001 on the back for MOT as I couldn't get Nokian Weatherproof in time.

M

M

No

Is it sensible to have  2 different makes of all weather tyres on the front and back? I would like to try the Nokian Weatherproof as the fronts are nearly worn down too far but I just put new Bridgestone A001 on the back for MOT as I couldn't get Nokian Weatherproof in time.

M

M

 

 

No

 

I would say it's fine to have different makes on the front/rear but I would put the new tryes ( or tyres with the most tread ) on the rear.

I would say it's fine to have different makes on the front/rear but I would put the new tryes ( or tyres with the most tread ) on the rear.

 

On a FWD or RWD vehicle I would agree with you but as OP has a 4X4 I would tend to disagree.

I would say it's fine to have different makes on the front/rear but I would put the new tryes ( or tyres with the most tread ) on the rear.

As the OP has a 4x4 the advice would be to fit identical tyres to all 4 wheels (and the spare?) and also swap around to even out the wear.

Also winter tyres on the front, normal tyres on the rear is asking for the back end to come around.

Both the Bridgestone and Nokians are All season tyres.

The rears take  significantly longer to wear than the fronts so it will be a few years before front and back are both worn out again enabling me to fit 4 of the same. Somehow I always forget to swap front and back ( all that is possible due to directional tyres) to even out wear.

Is there something about all season tyres that mitigate against using different tyres on front as to the back as surely this is fairly usual practice on front wheel drive cars. Although a 4x4 I only have the standard haldex Mk1 controller so rear wheels only come in on front slippage. (Though I do have a brand new Competition Controller to go on if I ever get round to it.)

M

Edited 21 October, 20169 yr by MarkyD

Aside from the different characteristics of the all-season compound spectrum (Weatherproof is a softer winter-biased all-season, CrossClimate harder more summer biased) I'd be tempted to fit same compound directionals on the front axle to clear the way; and asymetrics on the rear.  This could be achieved through Nokian D and A products respectively.  Porsche used to also do this with their Pirelli PZero homologated summer tyres.

 

The downside is it makes front-back swaps a (mental) hurdle, but from my own experience of running Torsen and Haldex systems over the past 20 years, the individual axle wear rates are broadly similar except for the shoulder wear on the steering axle.  Given my tendancy to swap for winters and reverse setup on refit I might have minimised wear differences so as not to be noticed, but I don't recall differences of more than 1mm and quattros have historically been "sensitive".  I always fit 4 new as a matter of course.

 

I have run the same set of offroad all-season tyres on the same wheels on 2 different generations of A6 allroad, Octavia Scout 1 and previous generation TT quattro (briefly).  The difference in tread depths has always remained less than 1mm.

 

Don't know if I've answered a question you didn't quite ask...