kuma1416

I checked my tires today as my car is hibernating in my garage and it looks like the rears are close to the wear bars, fronts still look good for maybe another season or so. I'd like to swap the P Zeroes for the Michelin PS4s and was wondering if come next spring it would be OK to change the rears to the mIchelins but keep the pirellis on the front until they wear out, at which point I would change them to the PS4s as well. I can see why you obviously wouldn't do this with winter and summer, or right and left, but I can't think of any reason why front and back wouldn't be OK. Any reasons why it wouldn't be a good idea?

LexVan

Don't mix tire brands and models.

C4SDayton

Mixing tires that are similar performance ie extreme summer, and using them for street driving, is not going to cause a major problem and you will see during some break-in miles if you can feel anything. If you don't like it, you can replace the fronts early. Is it ideal? No. Is it recommended by Porsche or tire sellers? No. Is it practical? Sure. I have done it myself on a sports car and several times on superbikes. Plenty will not agree, and that's fair. You did not say you're tracking. I assume you aren't driving on the road like it's a closed course.

eagle1960

You're gonna get different opinions . I have that exact setup and don't notice any problems.

LexVan

How many miles on the rear tires? Why change them early? Go into the wear bars. That's what they're there for.

You can easily double stint the front tires to two sets of rears. Buy two new PZeros in early April. Have em ready. Then drive the current rears into the wear bars, and then swap in the new rubber.

Then next time, change all four to the tire flavor of the year.

Pruettfan

My humble opinion is to never scrimp on tires. They make a huge difference in the performance of the car that you paid a lot of money for. Why compromise the handling and performance of a 100k car to get a few extra miles out of a set of mismatched tires? Manufactures don't recommend mixing tires ever, can you do it safely if you are just driving too and from work? Almost certainly but I can tell you the 4S is a very different tire then the Pirelli in terms of construction and tire compound so there is not much chance that your handling and overall performance won't be compromised. I have about 30,000 miles of experience with the 4S, was in the same position as you when I went to them, had about 5-6,000 miles left in the fronts of the crappy Conti's that came on my M2. Literally 5 mins after putting the 4S on I realized that I made the right decision buy going all in. Those are fantastic tires, the improvement in turn in, ride quality, wet and dry traction were pretty amazing.

Mixing tires simply delays a cost, your'e really not saving anything.

On a technical note I would get actual tread depth readings and provide some mileage estimates for what you will be experiencing. Based on the wear rate you might find you can get more out of the rears and replace them all down the road. You say the car is hibernating which indicates to me it's not going to likely be driven this winter, if it is part time car you likely have more time on those rears than you think.

kuma1416

Thanks all. The rears are pretty much at the wear bars. Definitely wearing faster than the fronts. My main concern is not any diminished performance but to make sure I wasn't damaging anything by running 2 different brands simultaneously. Since it's basically just a fair weather car (8-10K mi/ 6mos), I will probably swap all 4.

Need4S

^This. A mixed set might be ok if you're just cruising around at low speeds, but take a corner hard, or have to execute an emergency maneuver, and you could find the handling way out of balance to the point you may lose control. Not worth the risk, and you should get all the performance you paid for by buying such an expensive and well-engineered car.

DBH

Rear tires on Porsches tend to wear twice as fast as the fronts. So for now, buy a set of rears that match the fronts. Both ends will then wear out at about the same time. At that point, get a new set of the tire de jour.

1Carnut

I am not going to give you an opinion, just some facts. Tires are the only part of your car that touches the road, so tires are the most important part of your car. I just bought Porsche # 42 (and car number 462) and have been taking apart and redesigning cars for over 45 years. Tires have different characteristics, different weights, side wall strength (Potenza SP04's have about the strongest sidewall I have come across), tread patterns, and there is a reason they build tires just to work with certain cars, and the cars are also designed to work with certain tires. I built the first RWD Gallardo back in 2004 (sent the specs to Lamborghini), and the entire suspension needed to be redone and guess what it would not work with just any wheel and tire setup. It always bothers me when people will spend silly amounts of money for carbon fiber interior pieces that do nothing for the car and then want to turn and bargain basement the important things. Tires are important.

Steven C.

I always followed the rule to not mix tire brands until my last sports car. Bought a different brand of rears and under spirited or normal street driving absolutely no difference in feel or traction. And I race and can certainly feel when tires start going away. For a street car with no track time, not a problem. For a track car, never. Do I like the looks of mixing brands, no.

eagle1960

Good to see someone post some actual experience rather than opinion. I am not a track guy, but I have not seen a street difference in my car with P-0 fronts and PS4 rears.