Replace 1 tire or 2?

[The Critic]

Let's say the vehicle is FWD, and the right-front tire needs replacement due to an encounter with a pothole. The remaining three tires have about 5/32" remaining, maybe a bit less.

Should you replace 1 tire (just the affected one, and of course it would be the same brand/model) or should you purchase two?

 

[joegreen]

I would replace both. That way in the future you wont have to just replace the other side when it wears out. I don't know how much it would matter to replace just one from a safety standpoint.

 

[Ga129]

I would go ahead and purchase two. That way when the older two of the original 4 goes bad you can replace them at the same time too and never had one oddball tire. Plus you could keep the extra tire in case of emergencies. That's just MO. Other's may disagree. I've always heard in the past that you should replace two at a time if you're going to replace one assuming you can afford it.

 

[Danh]

Good question. It's probably not the best idea to have two tires with significantly different tread depth (e.g. 10/32 vs 5/32) on the drive axle, so you could either:

1)Buy 2 new tires, put them on the rear and move up front when the front tires are replaced or

2)Buy a single new tire, put in on the rear and leave it there until the other three are replaced and wear to its depth

Just had the same thing occur and went with the one tire option.

 

[Ga129]

Originally Posted By: Danh
Good question. It's probably not the best idea to have two tires with significantly different tread depth (e.g. 10/32 vs 5/32) on the drive axle.


+1

 

[bubbatime]

Buy two front tires. Put them on the rear. Replace two other tires when they need replaced, which should be fairly soon.

 

[Hollow]

Buy 4 new tires, as the remaining 3 have little life left for winter or water traction.

Sell the 3 used ones on Craigslist to get some funds back.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Hollow
Buy 4 new tires, as the remaining 3 have little life left for winter or water traction.

Sell the 3 used ones on Craigslist to get some funds back.


5/32 may we'll be more than half the Fred between new and legal limit. The validity of your recommendation is dubious to me.

But if selling the other three Odin the cards, then I'd agree that this could be preferable actually.

 

[Tdbo]

I would buy two, and replace the pair.
If I had the room in the trunk, I would pick up a rim at the boneyard, mount the 5/32" tire and have a full size spare.

 

[Ga129]

I think a good question also is what kind of tires are these? because depending on the tire, 5/32 could be a good chunk of miles or hardly any. For the high mileage tires like the Michelin Defenders that are made to go 90k miles, 6/32 tread left is still a lot of miles compared to a 40k mile tire with that much tread.

 

[MNgopher]

Two options:

Option 1: Replace a pair. New ones on the back, worn ones on the front.

Option 2: Replace the whole set, keep the three good ones, and sell on craigslist / used tire dealer - recoup a bit of the investment in four.

 

[totegoat]

If you don't intend to keep the vehicle much longer, look for a used tire.

If keeping the vehicle and with winter coming, I'd buy 4 tires.

 

[Mr Nice]

Buy a used tire.

Then replace all 4 when necessary.

 

[Ga129]

OP, you definitely have plenty of options here. It all comes down to what kind of money you want to spend and how long you plan on driving this vehicle. Good luck.

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Buy a used tire.

Then replace all 4 when necessary.


That seems reasonable to me.

Or buy a cheaper used tire like a Cooper where you won't mind getting rid of it when the other 3 tires are ready.

I think I had the same happen to me when the rt. front tire got a lump in it. I just replaced that Michelin as the left front was fairly new and rears had about half life left. Next tire change they all got replaced.

 

[The Critic]

Thanks for the feedback guys. The car actually belongs to my landlord and I noticed the tire issue when I was doing some work on the car this past weekend.

The car is a 2004 Lexus RX330 that she plans to hang onto for quite a while. The two rear tires are Michelin Energy MXV4 S8 with 4/32" left, and the fronts are Yokohama YK580 with about 5/32" left.

There's road hazard coverage in force for the damaged YK580 and the tire shop has said that they can apply the credit towards a different tire. I'll probably make the recommendation to get two Michelin Premier A/S for now and run the other two tires for another 5k or so before replacement.

 

[Nick1994]

Replace both but keep the other one and mount as a spare.

 

[mattwithcats]

Get a spare rim from a junkyard,
buy two new tires,
then save the good tire from the pair your replacing
as a spare.

With most cars having compact or no spare at all,
a full size spare is good to have...

 

[gabriel9766]

Replace 2, different tread depths can can cause car not to handle well and give u a pull because of the different tread depths.

 

[philipp10]

I would pick up a used tire, and not worry about brand as long as the size was right. In another year or so, replace them all.