Mismatching tyres?

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
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The 530i will require two new rear tyres at some point in the not too distant future. You will all be aware of how hyper-fussy I am about tyres so choosing two tyres is causing OCD overload. I'd be interested in the opinion of others, mostly around fitting different tyres on the front and rear of the car. Something that for whatever reason I'm particularly nervous about doing.

I've currently got Contisport Contact 3's all round. There is plenty of life left in the front tyres and I've been satisfied with the performance and marginal fuel economy benefit of these tyres. They didnt last particularly long, I don't even think I've done 10k and they are down to about 4mm (Will replace at 3), but then nothing seems to last long.

The problem is of course that the CS3 is an old tyre now and has been replaced by the CS5 and the CS5P, both of which appear to be a considerably improved tyre. There is also the new Eagle F1 Assymetric 2 which is posting some fairly impressive reviews, has fixed the high rolling resistence of the older F1A, and seems like a candidate for best in class tyre.


So I have, it would seem, 3 options:

a) Purchase CS3's. However this means putting almost 400 quid (They are £193 on Camskill) into tyres which I know are inferior to the others in the market in every way.

b) Purchase Eagle F1A2's. Same price as the CS3, and a better performing tyre. However this means I've mismatched the tyres front to rear.

c) Wait until Conti get act together and finally release the CS5 in my rear tyre size. They have yet to do this - I can buy the fronts but not the rears. Annoying as heck. I contacted them and they said later this year. Whether this will be before or after I need new tyres I've no idea.

I am aware that fitting mismatched tyres front to rear on an E46 has been to known to upset the handling - there were quite a few threads on the various BMW forums about this, though I've not really seen the same regarding the E39.

What are the thoughts of the OcUK collective?

There is always the option of simply going for a full set of F1 Assymetric 2's. However this is £700 fitted and requires throwing away two perfectly good CS3's with several more years life left in them which seems like a massive waste of money. Interestingly due to some sort of special offer a full set of Vredstien Ultra Sessenta is just £504 delivered from Camskill...
 
Everything I write below is simply my own opinion.

For the last few years I've been an Octy vRS owner - my old 56 and now 11 plate.
Not the "most amazing" car in the world, but I'm happy to throw it around corners etc and I want to make sure there is plenty of grip available all the time.

I have had no objection to mixing tyres on the car so long as the two tyres on any given axle are the same.
On the 56 plate I had (at various times) mixtures of Dunlop's, Continental's, Falken's and Bridgestone's.

I always replaced the tyres on my "non-driving" wheels and then put the next best onto the front.
I never had any "moments" where I felt this had caused me any problems.

My current car came with Continental's all around and to be hoenst so far I've been impressed and will quite probably stick to the same brand.
But if the "model" of tyre has been replaced by the time I come to buy I'll still only replace two - not four.
 
Have you crashed and died with the CS3 on? Have you ever come close to the limits of adhesion? Why was that tire fine enough to pass your hyper-anal criteria last time around but not now? Do you constantly yearn for a few inches less stopping distance with the CS3?
 
I'd be torn between the cheaper mismatching tyres option and the dearer all round option.

Five years ago without a doubt I would have changed all four and seen it as an excuse for a new set of wheels. These days however where there are other priorities in life I think I'd just go for the cheaper option especially if it was a second car.

I'll have this dilemma very soon, my tyres are all matching and the two fronts are on less than 3mm
 
My personal thought process would be as follows:

1) Stick with what I know. If I was happy with the current tyre, why use any different?
2) Take a punt on a full set of Ultra Sessanta and prolong needing a couple more tyres a little longer and potentially save £200.
Also, your tyre fitter may buy the good CS3s as part worn. Maybe against your ethics but no doubt they would end up on some other car anyway, might as well try get something back off them.

There doesn't seem to be a valid argument for mixing tyres here really :)
 
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If you are gonna replace 2 tyres ata time you will invariably change the balance in some way. For a RWD car I would prefer myself to have more grip at the rear and dial out some oversteer than make the car pointy and nervous at the rear.

For now I would swap fronts and rears if they are the same, and wait until you can change all 4.
 
Had mixed tyres on my e39 and have mixed tyres on the type R. no point in shelling for 4 when you can move the rears to front. No problems at all so I would be going for option B
 
DRZ said:
Have you crashed and died with the CS3 on? Have you ever come close to the limits of adhesion? Why was that tire fine enough to pass your hyper-anal criteria last time around but not now? Do you constantly yearn for a few inches less stopping distance with the CS3?
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My thinking is that if there is zero issue with different tyres front to back, it is simply illogical to buy the CS3 when the AS2 offers superior performance for the same price.

Most people on here will know how much I used to rave about the Eagles, and the wet performance of the Continental was never quite as good.
 
[TW]Fox;19795109 said:
My thinking is that if there is zero issue with different tyres front to back, it is simply illogical to buy the CS3 when the AS2 offers superior performance for the same price.

Most people on here will know how much I used to rave about the Eagles, and the yet performance of the Continental was never quite as good.
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In that case, I would fit the AS2 and know that if I had a problem with the balance of the car after that I could sort it by swapping the fronts for AS2 as well and recouping some of the money by selling the fronts on eBay.
 
Dr Who said:
If you are gonna replace 2 tyres ata time you will invariably change the balance in some way. For a RWD car I would prefer myself to have more grip at the rear and dial out some oversteer than make the car pointy and nervous at the rear.

For now I would swap fronts and rears if they are the same, and wait until you can change all 4.
Click to expand...

My rears are wider. This is why I can get a CS5 for front but not back.
 
Dr Who said:
For now I would swap fronts and rears if they are the same, and wait until you can change all 4.
Click to expand...

This is what I was going to say, but I thought it must be so obvious there was some basic reason not to do it and therefore if I mentioned it I would be given the full monty.

edit: and of course there is
 
In theory the car would have been set-up to run the same tyres front and rear but in reality its not going to make the blindest bit of difference on a road car unless you pick ditch finders for one of the sets.

The wear rate and thus the grip levels between the front and rear will vary (as you've found) and as such any balance gained from having the same tyres will be lost very quickly.

In fact having different sizes between front and rear will give you different grip levels between front and rear and as such even having the same tyre becomes somewhat pointless. Admittedly they would have similar behaviour in extreme conditions but I very much doubt this would be noticeable.
 
How much would you be able to sell the CS3s on the front for? If the total cost of upgrading the fronts to F1A2s is small enough I'd just to that. Nothing else will meet your anality needs.
 
Siliconslave said:
In theory the car would have been set-up to run the same tyres front and rear but in reality its not going to make the blindest bit of difference on a road car unless you pick ditch finders for one of the sets.

The wear rate and thus the grip levels between the front and rear will vary (as you've found) and as such any balance gained from having the same tyres will be lost very quickly.

In fact having different sizes between front and rear will give you different grip levels between front and rear and as such even having the same tyre becomes somewhat pointless. Admittedly they would have similar behaviour in extreme conditions but I very much doubt this would be noticeable.
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It just isn't that simple. Different compounds behave differently up to and beyond the limits of adhesion. You also get differences in water clearing ability and stuff like that. Sidewall stiffness etc makes a huge difference (you only have to look at RFT to non-RFT to see the most extreme examples of that) and that does tend to vary a lot between tyres.

Having said that, the difference is going to be slight but that isn't to say that it isn't there and can't be felt day to day.
 
I agree with DRZ. The difference between tyres, even two very good tyres, is very noticeable.

I am no expert but if you were to let let me drive a car back-to-back with F1s and Michelin PS2s on, but didn't tell me which set was on for each run, I could tell you afterwards. It wouldn't be a case of noticing differences in grip as much as difference in behaviour.
 
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