Advice on tires matters pls...

[Midnight]

Dear all Lations,

I am about to put my deposit for a used latio and realise that out of the 4 tires, 3 of them are sumitomo brands and 1 is bridgestone. They are all 185/65/R15.

I have the following questions:

1. Is there any (safety etc) implications when the tires are of different brands?

2. Personally i have never heard of "Sumitomo", is it reliable?

3. Could the different brands of tires indicate that the car possibly have gone through an accident before and so ended up in such different combination of tire brands? (The original ture brand from TC is Toyo if i am not wrong).

4. Do you think it is worth it to ask for a price reduction for the purchase and i go trade in for new tires. But i heard trading in price usually very low...

Thanks!

[detach8]

brands are just part of the equation. there's different grades of tyres that each brand carry as well. i used to drive a car with a set of cheap falken tyres and they were crap... worse than the toyos that tan chong gave with latio anyway

there shouldnt be a problem with the different brands, i'm guessing one of them used to be a spare tyre. as long as there's still thread in the tyre, the car should be fine. it would be good to just go change for a set of better tyres, of course. the GR80s are well recommended maybe you can call up poh heng tyres to find out how much the tradein for a set of GR80s cost.

[Silver]

mixed use of tyres of different brands, construction or tread patterns - not advised as they can adversely affect the ride, braking, handling, etc

see page 8-32 of owner's manual

[Midnight]

brands are just part of the equation. there's different grades of tyres that each brand carry as well. i used to drive a car with a set of cheap falken tyres and they were crap... worse than the toyos that tan chong gave with latio anyway

there shouldnt be a problem with the different brands, i'm guessing one of them used to be a spare tyre. as long as there's still thread in the tyre, the car should be fine. it would be good to just go change for a set of better tyres, of course. the GR80s are well recommended maybe you can call up poh heng tyres to find out how much the tradein for a set of GR80s cost.

Yeah, ok, thanks for the advice. I think i'll call up Poh Heng tomorrow to check. Another good place to call is Yap Brothers is it?

[Midnight]

mixed use of tyres of different brands, construction or tread patterns - not advised as they can adversely affect the ride, braking, handling, etc

see page 8-32 of owner's manual

This is partly what i am worried about. And Sumitomo brand sounds unfamiliar to me. But for all 4 tires, the threads are still pretty new....

[clarence]

Generally, using different tyre brands are fine BUT the front and rear tyres must be of the same brand.

Eg. Michelin for front tyres and Toyo for rear tyres.

A definitely NO NO is to have a Michelin tyre on the front left and Toyo tyre on the front right.

[Midnight]

Generally, using different tyre brands are fine BUT the front and rear tyres must be of the same brand.

Eg. Michelin for front tyres and Toyo for rear tyres.

A definitely NO NO is to have a Michelin tyre on the front left and Toyo tyre on the front right.

Alright, so in this case i can choose to retain the front 2 sumitomo tires.
For the rear, can i just replace the sumitomo tire with a Bridgestone? Then 1 will be new, the other one will be old, wear-off rate also different right?

i dunno, wondering what is the most economical way to handle this and not compromising safety and causing damage to car in the long run?

[Silver]

is the spare tyre the T-type tyre or the "conventional" standard tyre?

seems highly possible that it could be the T-type as you did not mention about the spare tyre

in that case, may be best to keep the best 2 of the Sumitomo tyres for the front and get 2 new tyres for the rear

remember to put tyres of the same brand, construction and tread patterns on the same axle

can also read more in :

http://www.sumitomotire.com/abc/when.asp

[alangohek]

is the spare tyre the T-type tyre or the "conventional" standard tyre?

seems highly possible that it could be the T-type as you did not mention about the spare tyre

in that case, may be best to keep the best 2 of the Sumitomo tyres for the front and get 2 new tyres for the rear

remember to put tyres of the same brand, construction and tread patterns on the same axle

can also read more in :

http://www.sumitomotire.com/abc/when.asp

Now, I am driving a rented impreza while waiting for my ride to be "discharged" from TCM. 3 Falken 326 + 1 Michelin Energy. When the speedo hits 120kmh, the car start to get a little shaky. Could this be related to different tyres placed on the same axis?

[Silver]

rented impreza .....

I had also driven one before (rental from Downtown ....) and believe me, I cannot wait to get my own car back and I was driving the impreza more like a "bullock cart"

car start to get a little shaky - as in strong vibrations felt in the steering wheel?

which tyres are on which axle?

irregardless of the above, the strongest possibility is that the balancing on one (or more) of the tyres is off

I think the reason for the advice against putting tyres of different brand, construction and tread patterns has got to do with braking and handling especially in the wet where grip, braking characteristics and water dispersion properties are of paramount importance

[Midnight]

is the spare tyre the T-type tyre or the "conventional" standard tyre?

seems highly possible that it could be the T-type as you did not mention about the spare tyre

in that case, may be best to keep the best 2 of the Sumitomo tyres for the front and get 2 new tyres for the rear

remember to put tyres of the same brand, construction and tread patterns on the same axle

can also read more in :

http://www.sumitomotire.com/abc/when.asp

The spare tire is still the toyo one, i believe is the stock ones.

I think i will go to tyre shop and seek their advice. If not i probably will just make do with the current ones albeit different brands. I am generally not a fast driver. Usually 90km/h max :-p

Maybe half to 1 year later i change all out.... coz it is really a waste to throw away the tires as the threads are quite deep...

[Midnight]

Now, I am driving a rented impreza while waiting for my ride to be "discharged" from TCM. 3 Falken 326 + 1 Michelin Energy. When the speedo hits 120kmh, the car start to get a little shaky. Could this be related to different tyres placed on the same axis?

My deduction is that different brands, hence different thread patterns, is likely to affect driving/braking performance, more pronounced at high speed. It is not something that you can immediately feel it - like car shaking...

If shaking, maybe is wheel alighnment out etc... it is afterall a rented car, "whacked" by many ppl before