Replacing a single tire

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Mar 10, 2006 | 01:17 PM

snodgrass

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Replacing a single tire

Hi
I `ve just had to replace a single Firestone Wilderness A/T on my 98 XP,
because the front ran flat for a block and damaged the side wall.
Either some little sh%t let it down or it got a very fast puncture, but we never found no nail.

Anyway question is has anyone replaced just one tire and had difficulties with this.
The tire tread depth is about 3mm difference, so I put the new tire on the rear axle, and an original rear tire on the drivers side front.

The shop obviously recommend replacing all 4, but being short of a $1000 lying aroud I declined this.

Anyone any thoughts on this.

Mar 10, 2006 | 01:40 PM

pitrow

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From: Cornelius, Oregon

I wouldn't worry about it. A 3 mm tread depth difference works out to just a hair over 1 inch difference in rolling circumfrence. I've had to replace just one tire plenty of times, the last time when some punk kids slashed one of my two month old tires on my jeep. Anyway, unless you have a locked rear axle you won't have any problems.

Mar 10, 2006 | 02:00 PM

snodgrass

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Thanks pitrow,
I was a bit concerned as I`d read of people having problems with differentials etc and messing up their 4x4 because of the difference in rolling radius.
I put the tire on the back though because at least then hopefully the truck will not pull to that side of the highway if it had been on the front.

Mar 10, 2006 | 03:47 PM

Onespeed24

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From: San Diego

With that little of a difference I wouldn't be too concerned. However, i had the same thing happen on my old Focus, got a flat but didn't realize it til I had driven a couple miles. (With race suspension and low pro tires it just didn't feel like I had a flat). I went ahead and bought two tires just so they would match each other, and i put the new ones on the front. Between autocrossing and HPDE track days, I was going through tires about every 2-3 months anyways, so it wasn't a big hit that I wasn't expecting.
Point is, two matching tires is better than one mismatched, for rotation purposes as well as handling...

Mar 10, 2006 | 03:52 PM

pitrow

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From: Cornelius, Oregon

LOL, what you need to do is put the new tire on the drivers rear and then do some burnouts! Assuming you don't have limited slip or the A4wd thing, you'll have that tire down the the same size as the others in no time.

Mar 10, 2006 | 05:32 PM

pitrow

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From: Cornelius, Oregon

Oh, btw I just realized I did my math wrong, it actually works out to about 3/4 of an inch difference in circumfrence.

Mar 10, 2006 | 09:05 PM

aagitch

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At the most I would suggest putting another new tire on the other side. I know when it comes time to replace mine I will probably do it two at a time as it is very expensive. I want to get the michelins.