TYRE TREADS - Does it matter if they Different?

[ZAS Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close ZAS]

Hi Guys

Great forum. I had sidewall gashes / flats on my left front and back tyres as a result of a hidden branch (Factory Dunlop Grandtrek AT20 265 / 65 / R17). Blessed I only just made it home with the use of a spare, and tyre repair kit.

Do I need to now get 4 new tyres, or can i have 2 new tyres on the back and 2 old ones on the front?

what damage if any can the different treads between front and back have? Current tyres have done approx 30,000km's and have half tread.

Cheers

Zas

[Guest Close Guest]

can i have 2 new tyres on the back and 2 old ones on the front?

This will be fine.

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

Thinking about which tyres are most important for vehicle control I would be putting 2 new tyres on the front.

[ZAS Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close ZAS]

Thanks for the responses! Toyota tell you one thing, the tyre shops say another (probably to get the sale), dont know what to believe.

Cheers!

[Guest Close Guest]

You are better off doing a 5 tyre rotation to avoid leaving the spare unused. Tyres do have a life and if the spare is left unused for 7 or so years, then it won't be as good. It may become more brittle and it may lose some of its grippy qualities.

[ZAS Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close ZAS]

Thanks for the advice 'Amts'. I'm hoping to do a 5 tyre change when the old ones run low (and more money in the kitty). Any recomendations of tyre choice that have the same safety as highway tyres, etc, but extra strong side walls for rocks, sticks , etc for reliable offroading? Im guessing you can't have it both ways, its one or the other?

Cheers

[Guest Close Guest]

I would recommend the D694LT. It's a light truck construction so has extra plys to resist punctures. It's an all-terrain tyre but it performs equally well on the highway and off-road.

[discoveraus Member Find all posts View Profile Close discoveraus]

Hello ZAS,

I would take the oportunity to replace all tyres with something better in LT construction, a constant 4x4 does not usually like running different diameters on each end and the diff in the centre will work overtime to make up for the slightly different diameters.

I had a friend who put new tyres on the front of his Musso and left the old ones on the back because they had a few miles left in them, he was annoyed when the transfer case disintergrated at 100 km/hr about 1500 km later but he did save $400 odd on tyres. Musso's are hard to fix away from big cities and he paid out bigtime for accomodation etc as well as the mechanical costs.

I think the Prado is far superior to the Musso but would not bet that it would be unaffected by different diameter tyres. Probably OK on dirt and at low speeds but otherwise potentially bad news. Buy better tyres now for both ends.

regards

Ross

[ZAS Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close ZAS]

Thanks for the heads up guys, greatly appreciated.

Ballpark pricing on the Bridgestone D694LT? (I got priced $230ea for the Dunlops which is much less than anticipated).

[Guest Close Guest]

Hello ZAS,

I would take the oportunity to replace all tyres with something better in LT construction, a constant 4x4 does not usually like running different diameters on each end and the diff in the centre will work overtime to make up for the slightly different diameters.

I had a friend who put new tyres on the front of his Musso and left the old ones on the back because they had a few miles left in them, he was annoyed when the transfer case disintergrated at 100 km/hr about 1500 km later but he did save $400 odd on tyres. Musso's are hard to fix away from big cities and he paid out bigtime for accomodation etc as well as the mechanical costs.

I think the Prado is far superior to the Musso but would not bet that it would be unaffected by different diameter tyres. Probably OK on dirt and at low speeds but otherwise potentially bad news. Buy better tyres now for both ends.

regards

Ross

ZAS says that he has AT20s which have shallower tread when new and 2 are new while the other 2 are 30,000km old. Depending on how he drives, the old ones cold be half worn. So it's no biggie for the centre diff to cope with such small differences.