NoPasaran

Hello, everyone

My question is - can I mix tyre manufacturers.
For example, put 2 Michelin PSS on the rear, and 2 Hankook tyres on the front?

I have lost 2 rear Hankook tyres due to bad suspension settings, they wore very quickly on the inside shoulder having rolled only 9500 miles. The front Hankooks are still good, and anyway the fronts do not wear as quickly as the rears. What if I leave fronts on and replace rears with Michelin Pilot Super Sports? I hear one should not mix tyres, but I do not understand why, it is not like I have different tyres on the same axle, I would have different tyres on different axles.

phillipj

I wouldn't do it.. Especially on a TT. I tried it on my Scion and it drove so poorly I couldn't drive it.. You're going to have to go with 4 matching tires...

You got 9500 miles out of tires? Amazing! Mine last about 7k. Rears about 5k We'll see how the Michelin Super Sports last.

Terry Adams

Tried it once with the 993, never again.

The handling is terrible.

I would put Hankooks on the rear until the matching fronts are about worn, then replace all with PSS, a marvelous tire. Or tyre if you wish.

phillipj

Agreed on the PSS..

Kevin

Don't you take your car into Sportec? Didn't they do the alignment for you? What did they tell you?

I would stay with the Michelin> are you allowed with your insurance and TUV to stray away from "N" rated tires? It's my understanding that if you got into a accident, you could run into issues with the non "N" rated TUV mismatched tires in Switzerland??

dianic

9500 miles on rears is pretty good. Unless its all highway miles at 120kms/H&R which I doubt.

NoPasaran

Well, it depends on the driving style, Phillip, does not it? :-)
For me 997T is true GT, I do not burn tyres, do not do track, drag, or red-light sudden starts.
Also, my tyres wear badly on the inside, so 9500 miles is too little on these tyres with my driving style, imho.

NoPasaran

When I bought the car last year I put new Hankooks all around. I was stupid, I did not have the alignment done. Now I am paying for this stupidity.

The rear tyres wear unevenly. The inside shoulder is very worn on both tyres, the profile depth is almost gone, I am below the last depth block there. Middle and outer part is fine, lots of profile left, did not even reach the depth blocks yet.
The front tyres seem to be OK over the whole profile width, but I will check again tonight.

Yes, I now went to Sportec and had alignment done. I have now 1.23/1.45 camber front/rear, and toe-in on all four tyres. They told me I need some toe-in on this car, otherwise it could be too twitchy. The incoming alignment was - 1.56 and 1.45 camber on rear wheels, and I think toe-in. Fronts had crazy toe-out on the other hand!

The rear Hankook tyres I use are specified on the webpage where I order tyres as follows:

Ventus S1 evo K107 325/25 ZR20 101Y XL

These tyres get better ratings from users than MPSS. Also Hankooks are rated better on fuel consumption (C versus E on PSS, scale is A to G) and on noise (72dB versus 75dB for PSS). Ratings are German, these must be on all new tyres sold.

I do not know what N-rating is, PSS are specified on the webpage as follows:

PILOT SUPER SPORT 325/25 R20 101Y XL mit Felgenschutzleiste (FSL)

(FSL is rim-protector)

NoPasaran

Well, I mostly drive in the city, to be honest, and I like to go on winding country roads, doing 60-80kmh. Did some mountain runs and some Autobahn runs as well, but that would be max 1500 out of 9500 miles. No tracking, no drags of any kind.

NoPasaran

THE QUESTION NOW IS: should I but just 2 rear Hankooks and leave 9500m old fronts on, or should I buy 4 MPSS?

What are your opinions, please?

Sportec opinion: they recommend 4 MPSS, they have experience with these tyres.

NoPasaran

I've read Pistonheads Porsche forum, there is this from GT2 owner:

"I have mixed tyres front to rear on the GT2 when Corsa's were sold out in Europe. Provided the tyre is not too different in terms of stiffness and compound (which for a road tyre i doubt) you may not even notice.
Even new tyres of the same type can feel different.

It depends whether you are emotionally driven to sleep well when the writing on the side of the tyres is different. I have found much bigger differences in used tyres vs new tyres than of different manufacturer.

On my road car, l mix them cos l take whatever the garage has.

On a track the balance of the car shifts anyway depending on a number of factors, tyres is just one.

FWIW - I have just put brand new PS2's on, all round on the GT2 and it has altered the balance of the car, compared to A048's all round.
There's alot more too it than manufacturer"

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=905001

Terry Adams

NoPasaran (you are Madrileno perhaps?), your driving pattern is about identical to mine. I would still not mix the tyres, from my single experience doing so with my 993.

A friend who retired after 35 years at Michelin explained the N rating to me:

Cost of tire, and you note that PSS are significantly cheaper than PS2, is affected by the fact they have to test and develop an N rated tire for each performance car brand. In the PSS, Michelin developed a tire that met almost all criteria for all performance cars. And was accepted up front by most if not all.

I am no Walter Rohrl, so happy with my PSS and the savings.

Seems to me, much more important than the insurance paying or not paying on a non-N rated tire, would be whether you mixed them and what was the wear on each at the time of the accident.

NoPasaran

No, Terry, I am not Spanish. I am from the north. :-)
Yeah, mixing is not really on my mind, choice is really 4 MPSS or two new Hankooks and leave fronts in place.

I want to thank everyone for your suggestions! Thank you!

Terry Adams

Ah well, NoPasaran was the battle cry for the Madrilenos during the (un)civil war.

Anyway, you're welcome.

TT Surgeon

I would go with 4 new mich super sports unless you have to have N tires, but 4 new tires nonetheless.