Mismatched tire brands

Ahh, but of course there is an exemption for space saver spares. Mostly in the instructions not to drive over 50 miles or at speeds over 50 mph. Sadly, I don't see that many traffic stops for folks who are running that spare completely out of tread, weaving in and out of lanes, and tailgating in excess of 75 mph... and usually with at least one other severely underinflated tire.

Utah was the only state I can recall where the highway patrol would stop you for underinflation...mostly to save your life.

L.W.(ßill) Hughes III proclaimed:

Billy Ray proclaimed:

[snippety doo dah, snippety aye....]

The 'replace with" is partly mumbo jumbo and partly due to the tires on some vehicles being intentionally designed for poor side traction. You want the thing to slide sideways rather than tip over as it might with a set of wide racing slicks.

Tires get old, the rubber deteriorates with age.

Well, space savers are usually only found on small hatch backs. Additionally, they are an exception. I had ASSUMEd that we were talking about mismatched full size tyres on the same axle. Some high end luxury cards come with different width front and rear tyres also. But as long as tyres on the same axle are same size and pattern, its fine.

I am not sure what would happen if one has directional tyres and the spare is only one direction. If you have to replace your other direction with a spare, then you have a case of one tyre on the axle in one direction and the other in the opposite direction. What happens if you have an accident like that. I might actually ask a cop or the insurance company just for clarification. BTW, I am running BFG Muds so directional aspects are not applicable to me personally.

TW

Hi Bill,

It helps to be polite. I once got out of jail or even a citation for going eighty, on a winding country road in the middle of the night, in a '64 Falcon (or maybe it was a Comet). I was extremely polite, and had a bag of groceries with me, with ginger ale and Saltines, for my pregnant wife. The whole car could have been considered "defective equipment", the way we maintained things in the commune. I think it also helped, that he didn't want to have to call a wrecker for the car, and drive thirty miles to the nearest jail. Another advantage to living in the country.

Earle

I think most of us would agree that since four, 5"square patches of rubber are the only thing controlling your car and keeping it shiny-side up, tires are the most important piece of equipment on your car. It is false economy to mix & match tires if you routinely drive highway speeds, because when your car needs to be perfect in an accident-avoidance situation, they CAN be the difference between life & death.

As far as getting police involved, I would think many of the citations written for mismatched tires are AFTER an accident has occurred. They are an easy out - you don't need to blame the driver and it helps the insurance companies determine fault. Who really knows how much the tires came into play and if the best tires in the world would have avoided the accident? Most accidents, in my opinion, are mostly driver error and mismatched tires operating improperly under stress are only a contributing factor at best. The driver generally has put himself in the dangerous situation, why should the mismatched tires take all the blame?

Bottom line is, SUV's handle like crap over 50 mph. Always have - always will. Mismatched tires certainly make a bad situation worse, but do not create the bad situation.

Why so confusing?

If you go out and kill someone because you couldn't avoid them because you were driving a vehicle with mis mactched tires or an 'unsafe' vehicle, you go to jail.

Simple enough.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

I forgot to add,

During the time I sold tires, I was licensed to inspect vehicles in two states. As with most other states, the only stipulation made is that tires have at least 3/32 of tread.

I was also a cop for 9 years previous to that. Nothing in the Motor vehicle code about tire brand, just minimum tread depth.

Later,

Spdloader

> Involving using the mini-spare, and its affect on the 4-wheel drive,>> and thats not really the case for my vehicle, I assume, or I could be>> all wrong.

Good lord man, you are trying to say mixing and matching any old brand as long as they size stamp is the same is ok????

Besides being 'way' out of date with today's SUV's, that is just plain wrong.

I once mixed a set of Michelin radials on the front and goodyears of the same size on the back and damn near put my Pontiac wagon in the ditch on the first corner. It dove and slid out sideways.

That was the last time I ever did anything so stupid with tires.

There is a gent on another Jeep group who just posted asking why his wrangler always wants to fishtail in the snow under any acceleration.

If you guessed mis matched tires, you would be right.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

>> Involving using the mini-spare, and its affect on the 4-wheel drive,> >> and thats not really the case for my vehicle, I assume, or I could be> >> all wrong.

(Sorry this is so long)

No, that's not what I'm saying at all Mike. Just pointing out the legal differences between the US and someone who said you can go to jail for mixed tires in Canada. I investigated tons of accidents during my years in law enforcement. Tons. I was a certified accident investigation trainer as well. I never found mismatched tires to be the culprit. Bald tires on ice a couple of times, steel belts showing then the tire blew out a couple of times, but that's it, and those were the fault of the owner.

Again, I don't condone mixing up tires, I'm just saying that some of the responses were a bit overboard in what might happen, and that other than with blowouts and severe under-inflation, (which causes a blowout due to heat like with the Firestone/Explorer fiasco) tires seldom cause and accident, but they can reduce your ability to control the vehicle IN an accident, or in extreme conditions. People go overboard trying to make a point, just like when I tell people I ride a motorcycle, they ALWAYS know someone killed/maimed on one, or know someone who knows someone who was killed or maimed on one.

Regarding the gent in the other newsgroup, I read the post, but disagree that mismatched tires were the only cause. LOTS of things can cause fishtailing in snow, it is snow, after all. The rear of that vehicle weighs much less than the front, and it WILL come around the front on acceleration because the front weighs more, and with the "plowing" of the front end due to snow and weight, the front has more rolling resistance. The rear tires will take the path of least resistance, to the left or right of the front end. Mismatched tires will only create secondary problems, but won't CAUSE the problem, unless WILDLY different.

Todays SUVs may be more susceptible to differences in tires, but the laws of gravity and physics hasn't changed.

I would venture a guess that when you "damn near put your Pontiac Wagon in a ditch", you were merely driving too fast for conditions. The tires didn't cause that, you did by driving beyond your tires ability to maintain adhesion to the road. There are totally different dynamics going on front to rear and side to side on a turn. Weight, speed, traction, road conditions and driver ability all playing a part.

Respectfully,

Spdloader C. Tracy Bryson

> >> Involving using the mini-spare, and its affect on the 4-wheel drive,>> >> and thats not really the case for my vehicle, I assume, or I could be>> >> all wrong.

I think it's important to appreciate just how "mismatched" these can be. Two tires of the same type worn as slightly different rates aren't the same as putting two entirely different sizes (width and/or height) on there.

But if you're in a ligitation-happy situation who'd buy them? And what liability could you get stuck with since you knowingly sold them to someone because you knew they couldn't be used "properly"?

I think there are 2 separate questions here:

1) Is it the right thing to do? 2) Is it legal? Then question 2 becomes legal _where_ as I am sure there are differences in jurisdictions....

On my TJ and the YJ before that I always keep the same 4 tires all around. On the Sienna I go by axle with no problem. - I stay with the Michelins, but I had put a set of X-Ones on and did not like (won't hold air or balance) them as much as the regular X-Radials so now there is the newer X-Radial on the front and the vestigial X-Ones on the rear until I can finally get them to wear out. No problems seen.

I also suspect that front drive pull cars are more forgiving on this than rear real drive push cars. Tomes

> >> Involving using the mini-spare, and its affect on the 4-wheel drive,> > >> and thats not really the case for my vehicle, I assume, or I could be> > >> all wrong.

Turns out the tires the gent in the other group bought were 235's with one 215 tossed in..... I figure when he matches the tires, his Jeep will run 'normal'.

When the Pontiac with the miss matched brand tires slid out on me, I was doing the posted speed on a highway ramp I drove every day back then. It was also the favorite place in town for the cops to hide with their radar so I 'know' I wasn't speeding....

Here in Canada, if you go out and kill someone in an accident and you have mismatched tires on, you are driving what is considered an 'unsafe' vehicle and you could go to jail for that.

That is one good reason Dealers and tire shops now a days won't install mis matched tires and a good reason to think twice about doing it. There is serious liability involved.

Mike

Spdloader wrote:

>> >> Involving using the mini-spare, and its affect on the 4-wheel drive,> >> >> and thats not really the case for my vehicle, I assume, or I could be> >> >> all wrong.

Agreed

I'd like to re-iterate, though:

Even if you're not speeding, you can drive faster than a tires ability to maintain traction.

The posted speed doesn't know where that point is, where you will break traction.

I'm sure some curves I could have taken in my old 280Z at 100mph, where the posted speed is 55mph, my tandem axle dump truck, on the other hand, would flip at 35mph.

I agree his Jeep will handle better after replacing the oddball tire, but it will still fishtail on acceleration in the snow under the right conditions.

Later,

Spdloader

> >> >> Involving using the mini-spare, and its affect on the 4-wheel >> >> >> drive,

It is said that a jury is the conscience of a community. I'll bet you couldn't put together a jury in the U.S., or in Canada either, of twelve people who all knew what kind of tires they had on their cars, whether they matched, or even how to tell what size they all were. Imho, as a potential jury member, you are not going to get a conviction, for negligent defective equipment, if the tires are all the same size, and inflated more or less properly. The cop who told Mike he could have gone to jail for mismatched tires, was plainly blowing smoke.

Earle

acceleration

>> >> Involving using the mini-spare, and its affect on the 4-wheel drive,> >> >> and thats not really the case for my vehicle, I assume, or I couldbe

>> Involving using the mini-spare, and its affect on the 4-wheel drive,> >> and thats not really the case for my vehicle, I assume, or I could be> >> all wrong.

I caught hell one time, for replacing a bunch of drums on Clarke County, VA, school buses, just because they were worn past the diameter cast on the rim. Once I explained why I did it, the county paid.

Earle

> >> Involving using the mini-spare, and its affect on the 4-wheel drive,> > >> and thats not really the case for my vehicle, I assume, or I could be> > >> all wrong.