Need help -- get Nitto Invo tire, or Michelin PS2 at twice the cost?

[J Tinsby]

Originally Posted by Bobiam

The manufacturer, retailer (Tire Rack) or you the driver can neither predict or explain the handling of your car if you mix brands. .

bobiam is correct but in my case The Tire Racks recommendation for snow tires for the SLK230 was absolutely dangerous. Add to that the fact the tires were the same brand and Tire Rack said " these new Blizzaks should be compatible with the Blizzaks you have on the front.

As one of the other posters offered, the front and rear of the car acted like they weren't connected to one another and the car wanted to change ends, if you made any sudden turns with the steering wheel.

Totally wrong information from them and I won't do business with them again. Their recommendation was dangerous to say the least.

So if you want to mismatch brands go right ahead it's your life, just let me know what roads you take so I can go a different way!

[BYprodriver]

Anyone ever drive a car with a spacesaver spare tire? Did you adjust your driving accordingly? How about a new Cayman R with a slow leak in the right-rear tire, leaks to 10psi? Drive your 1967 El Camino SS 100 miles on the freeway at 85mph to buy a used refridgerator & drive 85mph back home? Are any of these vehicles unsafe to drive? Does the driver need to make adjustments to their driving style to allow for the reduced capability of their vehicle? A driver should never exceed the capability of their vehicle or driving skill. It's like building a race engine: the weakest link will break first. Tires are no different, if you choose to downgrade the handling capability of your car you must adjust your driving to suit the weakest link.

[DenverSteve]

I haven't had to replace the rubber on mine yet. Why would the rear tires wear at a rate 2:1 faster than the front? According to one poster and not previously challenged or questioned. Very curious.

[thstone]

The rears typically wear faster than the fronts since they are doing all of the work in moving the car (propulsion) and Porsche drivers tend to be a little (hah!) lead-footed. And the majority of typical driving is mostly in a straight line so the fronts are just along for the ride and not really doing much work.

Fronts will typically wear at the same rate as the rears if you are doing a lot of canyon carving or other driving where you're spending a lot of time cranking it in the corners. In this case, the understeer built into the car will cause the fronts to scrub and wear at a rate similar to the rears.

If you track at lot, you are cornering hard on a fairly continual basis so you may find the the fronts wear even faster than the rears, especially if you haven't adjusted your tire pressures correctly and/or increased negative camber to minimize understeer and even out the wear across the tire (inside to outside).

[DenverSteve]

Thanks for that. I spend half my time in the city and half in the mountains - so I guess I'll see what comes of my situation. Unfortunately the "wider in the rear" set up eliminates the ability to rotate all the way around.