Winter Tirezzzzzzzz

[Lil Freek]

I've got a ghetto setup on the car where I have 2 different types of tires on the car. I have Toyo Observe G-02 tires and some other ghetto-brand.

I the Toyos are only 1 winter old, and the ghettos are shot (and deflating). I'm gonna get new tires, but wanted to verify if there's any issue with having 2 different sets of tires on car?

I would move the Toyos to the rear and buy something more pimp for the front tires. I just paid $125/tire for the Toyos (too much) and don't feel like chucking them out. If it makes a serious difference to have different tires on car, then I'll buy 4 tires, but with the wedding on the way, saving is key.

With the shit tires on the back, I lost traction and fishtailed a lot last winter, and I managed to do a 180 on the highway @ 70kph in a snow-storm. Suffice to say, I don't mind splurging on new tires if it's a question of safety.

IIRC, the proper size for winters would be 185/60-15, right? It's only 1% off from stock 195/55-15.

[dead_cactus]

I would stick with a set of the same 4 tires. If your wanting to save some $$ look for a pair of matching Toyo G-02's.

[991.8l]

Winter tires should be installed in sets of four. I would just buy two new Toyos and put them on the back. You want the newest tires on the back for winter, helps prevent spinning out. 185/60/15 would work.. whatever the same size is as the ones you have on now.

[Lil Freek]

lawl. $282 for 2x Toyo Observe G-02 plus (1010tires)
or $360 for 4x Blizzak WS70 (tirerack)

I'm more likely to spend an extra $80 for better tires.

[dead_cactus]

Good price on those Blizzak's and you could always recoup some of the cost by selling your 2 good Toyo's.

[Lil Freek]

yeah. think I might do that. tirerack has lots of sales/deals, too... so I'll just hold off for a few months until I come across a deal - or i'll just bite the bullet

[thekid]

Winter tires should be installed in sets of four. I would just buy two new Toyos and put them on the back. You want the newest tires on the back for winter, helps prevent spinning out. 185/60/15 would work.. whatever the same size is as the ones you have on now.

IMO, that's old school advice for RWD cars.

What does the acceleration, turning, and brakes. The front wheels!
Since I have decent car control skills, I want the better tires on the front where they'll get good use, and the lower tires in the rear, and I'll just avoid putting myself in situations of spinning out.

This is totally just my opinion, I'm sure others will argue against it.

[Hacker]

I would do the same. In fact, one of my Nokian Hakka RSi's had a damaged sidewall last winter, and I had to replace it with a Hakka R (RSi is discontinued). I put it on the front so I could wear it down faster to match the tread depth of the other 3. :)

But it all depends on the driver's skills to prevent and/or recover from low traction conditions.

If you feel safer while understeering, put the good tires at the back. If you feel safer while oversteering, put the good tires at the front. It's not critical that you install 4 identical winter tires; your car will still under/oversteer if you push it past the limits.

J.

[SKY]

Toyo Observe G02 are good tires....I used them for 2-3 season in Montreal, no problem. Of course if you feel like paying more for "maybe" some better stuff, go for it, but do drive it carefuly as well even you have winters on.