New rear tires

[FirstFord]

Hi everyone, got a quick question, i just got new tires for my x, i only replaced the rears, cause the fronts are pretty new, i got uniroyal larados on the back, and firestone firehawks up front, well anyway after getting them installed the guy who installed them said it may harm the 4x4, and trans by not replacing all 4 tires at once. Any truth to this?

 

[Alec]

Kinda, but not really on this truck. If you'd have tires with vastly different traction or sizes, it can harm a 4x system and more importantly, an auto 4x or AWD system. You shouldn't have any problems, though I recommend always changing all 4 at once.

 

[X~FACTOR]

As long as they are the same over all size and somewhat the same tread type, I don't see why it would harm it.

 

[FirstFord]

thats what i had guessed, they are all 235-75-15, and it cant be worse than it was with balding rears, and newer fronts. Thanks guys.

 

[SteveVB]

Yes, but not really.
If you had a full time or auto 4x4 it may make some difference. But you dont.

New tires with the same marked size may be different diameters from various manufacturers. So one companies 245 which is 30.7 may compare to anothers at 31.
Add in wear to one axle set and you can end up with a decent amount of difference. Different inflation pressures can add in another size difference.
Basically it Just means the rear tires and the front tires will turn a slkightly different speeds- On a hard surface when the tires cant slip the driveline will eventually bind. But unless you have a ;large difference in size it wont be a problem. Something will give and take up the slack- most likely the tires will scrub a bit at some point releasing the driveline. Since yours is a part time 4x most likely only used when the conditions have less than ideal traction conditions anyway I wouldnt worry about it.

You will be fine as long as the tires match on each AXLE. Particularly if you have a locker or L/S on that axle. Mismatched sizes on a locked or L./S axle will cause the L/S unit to wear faster.

 

[FirstFord]

yea i only use the 4x4 in snow any way. The axles are matched (tires). The reason i didnt buy the firestones for the rear again is cause they are discontinued (firehawk r4s).

 

[Alec]

I will never buy Firestone or Goodyear tires again, and the Michelins that came on my car suck.

My next tires are gonna be Pirellis.

 

[SteveVB]

Originally posted by Alec
I will never buy Firestone or Goodyear tires again, and the Michelins that came on my car suck.

My next tires are gonna be Pirellis.

You are soon going to run out of choices

 

[expo5.0]

why pirelli alec? i have tried quite a few companies now and i wasn't real pleased with my pirelli scorpion zeros. i know your putting them on a car and they are gonna be different tires, but i know nitto and toyo make tires that compete with pirelli in every size- especially in the sizes you will need and i think they are far superior.

 

[Alec]

I've been researching and the Pirelli Pzeros get much better ratings and reviews than others.

 

[hydroxy]

you should try yokohamas AVS S/T... I have them on now (255-55-18) and they are wonderful. There were also Yokohamas on my truck when I got it, and they weren't bad at all. I replaced them w/ Michelelin M/S - very very nice tire, performed great in the snow.

 

[burnin_up]

changing just the rears has never been a problem with all our farm trucks...the rock roads really wear out the rears alot faster. Every 15k or so we threw new ones on the back, drove them for 5k or so, then rotated. This is a little different,sure, as they wear basically driven on sand paper their whole life, but as fast as ours wore out I dont think you'd ever have a problem. One of the chevy's weve been doing this on for 15 years and 250,000 miles. Never had a drivetrain issue, and 4x4 was used several times a week.

 

[hydroxy]

well I would think w/ proper tire rotation, they would all just wear out really fast, and not just the rears?

 

[burnin_up]

Originally posted by hydroxy
well I would think w/ proper tire rotation, they would all just wear out really fast, and not just the rears?

nope...lots of factors...

all three trucks have the 7.4 chevy engine in them, and they spin the tires on the rocks no matter what

all three have large loads in back most of the time

all three see lots of trailer duty, most the time on trips over 300 miles.

unless we rotated them every 500 miles, which just isnt practical, they wear unevenly.