Got my guards red 2003 X50 one month/ 2000 miles ago and I just can’t seem to be able to let it sit in the garage while I drive a lesser car : hence this is now my DD.

Inevitably, tire replacement time is coming up: I’ll make it coincide with the 30000-mile service. I am currently rolling on P-Zeros front and back, but only the rears will need replacement, as the fronts will probably last until the next time the rears need replacing.

I would like to try out the rear Sumitomos while still on P-Zeros in the front: should I be concerned about having different tread patterns in the front than I do in the rear? Any other objections/ observations that I should be aware of?

 

Different tires from different manufacturers will have the potential to cause some pretty serious issues. The rubber compounds will give different levels of grip, warm up at different rates, have different effective spring rates (tires are part of your suspension equation, since they can have harder or softer sidewalls, therefore adding to or subtracting from your overall effective spring rates) will potentially operate at different pressures etc, etc. Different tread patterns can cause one end to hydroplane while the other grips.. not highly optimal...

I have always thought that it's not worth risking the Car or potentially your life, just to save a few bucks.... I ALWAYS change all 4 tires at the same time.. If you drive hard enough, even mixing older tires of the same brand and type with new tires can cause some serious handling issues...

Just my 2c.

 

Might as well put Sumi's all round...price is right.
I had the same issue with my PS2's, rears were cooked, fronts were not.
I went with Sumis and havent looked back....put the xtra $$ into other issues/upgrades

 

+1 for sumitomos

 

Yup, Buy the Sumi's and save the front tires for a spare set of drag wheels and tires...

 

Just out of curiosity and not just for the sake of saving pennies… could the P-Zeros be dismounted and reversed? I do have quite a bit of tread left but the problem is, as we all know, that on the rears (and partially on the fronts as well) the camber is such that the inner edge wears faster than the rest. I am still far from hitting the inner wear bars and I am wondering if reversing the tires would “equalize” the wear.

As always, the insight of the “6” collective is greatly appreciated…

 

If your are that concerned about "wasting" the fronts, do what most do and buy another set of PS2 rears and run all 4, until all 4 are due, when you can finally buy 4 new tires? It's common knowledge that it takes 2 sets of rears for one set of fronts on these cars, for normal driving.

 

I had the opposite sumis in the front and pzeros in the rear. It was fine. Even on the track it was consistent. I ran that way for a few weeks no trouble or issue with diff tires etc

 

You'll have to check with Pirelli or Tire Rack, if they sell them, as to whether you can flip them on the rims. Some tires you can, and some you can't.

 

Yes. Problem is the Pzeros suck and the Sumi's are a better tire. You're driving a very expensive car on 4 little tire contact patches. Don't you want the best set of paws on the ground at all 4 corners.

 

I ran the same combo a few weeks ago at Willow Springs no issues. Maybe I was not running fast enough

 

IMO it depends on what kind of driving you're doing. People mix tires all the time in cars that can't handle worth a crap. It is winter time and none of the street tires will be very grippy + you have AWD.

If you are willing to take it safely, I see no inherent danger in mixing the tires. The suspension travel of the tires is minimal under light loads and front and rear tire grips are mixed all the time, in fact the sidewall stiffness is mixed too. And these are slicks driven at the maximum. Heck Pirelli has done it on street tires too with the assimetrico and direzionale (sp)

At the rate you are driving, the other tires will be worn soon too. Just be careful till you get how the car is handling with the tires.

I don't mean to be contradictory, but the chances of something bad happening simply because of the tires is slim.

However wear rates will be effected, and you must make sure the overall heights of the tires are within 1% or you'll burn up your diff.

 

I've flipped my pzeroS and it worked fine on the track but that was with dry conditions. I would not run flipped inside and outsde tires in the rain, atleast not driving super fast! If there is enough tread on the inside, flip it.

 

My experience mixing the same way (except Toyo T1R) on the back and part worn Pzero on the front. The PSM would kick in every time i'd push the car in a curve, I could never figure out whether it was the new tires or the mixing, a very poor way to evaluate new tires.
If I turned off the PSM and pushed the car the same way I could feel the front tires "pushing" before the rears let go. Soon as I ditched the sad Pzeros (T1R at each corner) the car went back to its awesome self

When I was still running them, flipped my Pzeros before for wear too with no issues (they were non-directional). IMO give yourself a Christmas present of 4 new tires, you wont remember or regret the part worn front tires.

 

The PZeros are performance summer tires so temps below 45 degrees make the tires hard, so they lose traction. Don't know what type of tires the Sumis are, so not sure what their temperature range is. Just something else to consider. The owners manual states that mixing tires from different manufacturers is a no-no.