Different tires front and back

[jlrarch]

What do you guys think about this:

I was driving home home in my E93 M3 and hit a huge pothole, and subsequently blew out the front drivers side tire. The pot hole created a bubble on the side and some of the reinforcing was showing. No damage was done to the rim, but needless to say I needed a new tire.

Issue is this, the only tire dealer near me is Mavis, I called them and they told me they had the same tire in stock, the car is running Mechelin pilot sports. I stopped in and the Michelin tire they had did not match exactly so they did a search and he told that Michelin does not make the same pilot sport anymore (could be BS). Since I needed the car and I had no time to search, I allowed them to put two Contintals (same spec as the Michelin in front).

Now I am concerned I have compromised the performance of the car. Question is, should I have allowed this and is there a negative effect to the car. My E93 has 3900 miles. Advice would be appreciated.

[///My5UV]

It's going to handle different than before. For most people it makes no difference, but be careful until you get the hang of how they react, wet and dry.
As for their BS... they didn't have what you needed in stock so they sold you what they had. IMO a better dealer would have called around and found what you needed. Personally, I would have paid for a rental car for a couple days while waiting for it to get shipped in from tirerack, but live and learn...

[persian54]

so your 2 front are Cont and 2 rear are Mich?

That's not ideal but it won't really do any damage

get 2 new rear or 2 new front and keep the rest as spares

[mdosu]

do you know the exact conti model that was sold to you?

In general, you'd need tires to have the same temperature and traction ratings. It's also preferred to have the same tread type as well. But this won't kill you if I assume they gave you the PS2 equivalent. I wouldn't sweat it.

For example, my current winter setup has the same tires on 3 corners. But on my 4th corner, I have a different brand tire. (The current tires were discontinued in my current size and thus I had to buy another brand) I have the same traction and temp rating as my other 3 tires. But then again, these are winter tires designed to run in the snow and cold temps around town for 4 months a year. So no big deal to me.

I wouldn't do this for track tires.

[M5280RCR]

Call tire rack for advice. They have always seemed to have good honest advice for me in the past. They should ask the type on Conti put on, and if all 4 tires are similar type (i.e. ultra high performance radials) you might be ok. They advised me in the past how to pick a single replacement tire, when I blew one, and that exacty tire was no longer available (and I was not going to repalce 3 good tires just to have a set of 4 matching). Good luck

[sameh]

I've been wondering that myself. My rears need to be changed but fronts are fine, which I think happens to most of us. I'd say 50% of the time drivers would want to try another brand of tires. Does this mean they'll need to replace fronts too?!!
I have Conti 3s and thinking of getting Conti DW for rears.
OP, plesae keep me posted. Thanks

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by mdosu

do you know the exact conti model that was sold to you?

I was thinking the exact same thing. I hope you got high performance Continental equivalent. ContiSport seems to ring a bell, but don't quote me. Check tire rack for the PS2 equivalent.

BTW, Michelin is supposed to be phasing the PS2 out in favor of the new PSS, but as far as I know that process will be gradual and is not complete yet. So PS2 should still be obtainable. Again, check tire rack to verify.

[shendrick]

With these cars its a good idea the first time you decide to replace worn out fronts and/or rears, replace when the tires are about 50% used up. This way you can put the half worm tires into inventory so that the next time you flat you have an immediate solution. In your case I would have found two exact matches and kept the undamaged PS2 as a spare tire.

[mdosu]

Originally Posted by shendrick

With these cars its a good idea the first time you decide to replace worn out fronts and/or rears, replace when the tires are about 50% used up. This way you can put the half worm tires into inventory so that the next time you flat you have an immediate solution. In your case I would have found two exact matches and kept the undamaged PS2 as a spare tire.

+1 I also suggest this. I have 1 front tire ready as a temp replacement at anytime, I dont' have any rears yet...