hey guys was wondering if it would be strait if i ran falken ziex912s in the rear or front and i ran toyo proxes tires the tires are rated same and same size 235/45/17 im kinda weary of mix n matching tires but they look to have similar tread pattern and the tire shop said it would work..... should i just find somewhere with matching ziex912s as thats what i have on the rear of my car they are 2 months old.. i have ziex 512s upfront that are worn bad and i dart and have terrible breaking in this snowy weather in northern illinois. i was too cheap and only could afford the 2 tires at the time and the fronts still had suffecient tread...
thanks guys

 

Mix-matching your tires would work, but its always a better idea to run the same tires all the way around.

 

Your car will roll yes, and you can drive it if your in a pinch. However, its pretty careless to run anything but a matching set of tires and wheels on any AWD vehicle. Even the same size tire i.e 235/45/17's from one manufacturer to the other are actually a physically different size tire. NO TWO DIFFERENT MANUFACTURERS TIRE SIZES ARE PHYSICALLY THE SAME SIZE!!!! If someone has told you they are, or told you that they are close enough for an AWD vehicle, they lied. The torque split w/out slipping on a quattro is 50/50. So anyone running a mixed set is causing unnecessary wear and damage to the drivetrain. Mismatched tires should be unacceptable to anyone with an AWD vehicle, trust me its not "good enough" Go one or the other not both. The sidewall characteristics are going to be different(regardless of the same generic S, T, H, W, Y, Z, ZR rating). Having mismatched tires with sidewall characteristics that are not exactly the same will affect cornering, straightline and breaking stability of the vehicle. Our cars have also have ESP, which is constantly monitoring the rolling speed of the individual tires and if there are tires spinning at different speeds it will prevent the system from reacting like it should. The varyance between a snow tire and an all-season or sport tire is even more exaggerated. To be elementary, if one tire is not as tall as the other it means its spinning faster than the taller tire. That varyance, depending on the severity, could prevent Quattro from performing like it should at the least, and if its really severe it will lead to costly repairs far exceeding what even a top of the line set of tires would cost. As with most preventitive/pro-active maintenance on a car, an ounce of prevention's worth a pound of cure.

 

well now i have the ze 512s in the back and 912s in the front same size would that work? i feel as if there is front end floating some time when i am driving and the steering wheel is loose? i had found the 912s as a replacement because that is wat i was running originally on the car when i bought it with the same setup....

 

^^Your feeling what my post above was trying to warn you of. Sorry I was too late in replying to prevent you from running mismatched tires. Word to the wise, buy yourself a couple more 912's. You'll be doing yourself and your car a favor.

 

well the guys at falken and discount tire are good people and i calld em up told em the situation about how i had 2 different tires both are about a month used and they said dnt even worry about it will get u riding on the right tires in no time.. i went to disc. tire tday and swapped the backs out for matching tires no problem.. now she handles like a beaut

 

Yeah, mismatched tires are always a bad idea especially with an AWD. Even with a FWD/RWD its still a bad idea. not so much to try and keep the rolling speed variances within tolerance but for the problems that can occur in an aspect such as handling. Thats cool that Discount helped you out with a swap. I assume there was no charge except the price difference between the tires? It's still too bad however if they were the place you had mis-matches put on. There's no excuse for them not knowing or informing you of the downsides to doing so. Thats tire sales 101. 4x4, AWD's are almost always a four tire sale because of the tight tolerances, unless you are replacing two to match the two others that are already on the vehicle, if the ones to be matched are within an acceptable wear range.

 

what if i put 235/35 ZR 19 tires if the front and 275/30 ZR 19 tires in the rear is that okay??

 

The overall diameter of the tires your considering are mathmatically a match, however thats a big stretch to assume with any degree of certainty that the molds of the tires are actually a physical match. Thats why you would be well advised not to mis-match. The only way to be sure of an true match is to get the same tires produced from the same mold. If your FWD I wouldn't worry about it do whatever you thinks rocks, thats if they'd actually fit on the car without rubbing. If you have a quattro I wouldn't chance it. Good luck.

 

Good luck getting a 275/19 to fit, that's about a 10" wide tire. I just pulled a rear off of mine a couple of days ago and theres really not much extra space back there Also, why are you running a shorter sidewall in the rear? Quattro is not going to like the circumference difference. Staggered width wheels with deep lips look bad on a fwd/awd car IMO. It's a look reserved for rwd cars, and it's actually a functional element. On our cars it's pointless, kind of like a spoiler on a fwd car!