Is it safe to have 3 different brand tires on the same car?

[mshan]

My dad owns a Honda Odyssey mini-van and it has three different brands of tires on it.

They are officially all the same specs, but the two front are different from each of the left and right rear tires, in terms of brand and maximum recommended inflation pressure.

Is this a safe situation, or should one always use four matched tires on the same car / mini-van?

EDIT: more details below

 

[Eli]

I don't think it represents a safety hazard, but its probably undesirable.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Eli
I don't think it represents a safety hazard, but its probably undesirable.

Agreed. It should be safe as long as the size and tire type are all the same, and tread wear is similar, but it's not the best for optimum handling, etc. It also presents challenges for proper tire rotation, because he's gonna to want to have the only 2 matching tires on the front drive wheels at all times IMO.

 

[mshan]

More details:

2004 Honda Odyssey

All tires are P225/60R16 M+ S; front ones are 97S, left rear is 97S, and right rear is 98T.

Actual tires are:
- front left and right: BF Goodrich Revelation
- rear left: Bridgestone Weatherforce Plus 40
- rear right: Bridgestone Potenza RE92

Are these tires any good?

And what would other recommend as a quality set of four tires (safety and durability over performance) for this mini-van?

And what is a reasonable amount to have a matched set of four tires purchased and installed?

 

[amish]

i have heard that it is not a good thing. this might be an old mechanics tale though. i was told that the different treads can put a lot of stress on an axel. but this is probably just a story to get people to buy tires.

 

[steppinthrax]

I went to get new tires on my wife's Nissan. When I did some work on the car I accidently put the Lug nuts on backwards <---Idiot!!!!!

When I went to sears and they looked at the car they guy looked at it and said WOW you will need brand new RIMS as well. He said that all my RIMS are bent as a result. I drove home and reversed the lug nuts back and went to Mr. Tire. He checked them out and said none of my rims were bent. He did put new lugs on them though.

In order to check for bent rim you need to mount it on a tire balancer (just the rim). Just goes to show you how people really are.

 

[chris7b]

Doesn't pose a safety hazard, but it does say something about the owner. I wouldn't purchase a car like that!

 

[Crafty35a]

This has mostly been said by others, but just to add my opinion: it won't be unsafe, but the tires will wear unevenly and quicker than they would if they matched.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: amish
i have heard that it is not a good thing. this might be an old mechanics tale though. i was told that the different treads can put a lot of stress on an axel. but this is probably just a story to get people to buy tires.

One hard corner will put a LOT more stress on an axle than having mismatched tires ever could.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: steppinthrax
I went to get new tires on my wife's Nissan. When I did some work on the car I accidently put the Lug nuts on backwards <---Idiot!!!!!

It is physically impossible to put a lug nut on backwards...

For the OP: As long as the tires are all the same size and both tires on each axle are inflated to the same pressure you'll be fine. It's not optimal and you may be compromising traction, but it's not going to risk a blowout or mechanical damage.

ZV

 

[mshan]

If the tires on the same axel are different, wouldn't they have different compliance (i.e. same psi may have different effect on each tire)?

EDIT: I'm trying to convince him to at least match the rear two tires to the current front two tires, but not sure if he will listen. Then I'm am just going to have to ask him to at least drive a little slower in wet conditions.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: mshan
If the tires on the same axel are different, wouldn't they have different compliance (i.e. same psi may have different effect on each tire)?

EDIT: I'm trying to convince him to at least match the rear two tires to the current front two tires, but not sure if he will listen. Then I'm am just going to have to ask him to at least drive a little slower in wet conditions.

Not enough difference to matter. And as long as the tread is good, there's no real danger in driving at legal speeds in the wet.

ZV

 

[RU482]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: steppinthrax
I went to get new tires on my wife's Nissan. When I did some work on the car I accidently put the Lug nuts on backwards <---Idiot!!!!!

It is physically impossible to put a lug nut on backwards...

For the OP: As long as the tires are all the same size and both tires on each axle are inflated to the same pressure you'll be fine. It's not optimal and you may be compromising traction, but it's not going to risk a blowout or mechanical damage.

ZV

maybe he means the order he put them on (you know how you are supposed to put them on in a star pattern)

 

[Pacfanweb]

Not the best situation, but not a safety hazard...as long as all the tires are in good shape.

The same size tires from different manufacturers won't be EXACTLY the same size. So that's why we don't recommend mixing brands.

 

[senseamp]

I am going to go out on a limb and say it's OK as long as the car drives straight. Look at it this way, rear tires don't matter as much as the fronts, and front tire behavior is already different in open diff cars.
The tire guy was trying to get me to buy two new tires when I got a flat, but now I have an old tire and a new tire on the front, and really I can't feel the difference.

 

[NogginBoink]

Originally posted by: redly1

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: steppinthrax
I went to get new tires on my wife's Nissan. When I did some work on the car I accidently put the Lug nuts on backwards <---Idiot!!!!!

It is physically impossible to put a lug nut on backwards...

For the OP: As long as the tires are all the same size and both tires on each axle are inflated to the same pressure you'll be fine. It's not optimal and you may be compromising traction, but it's not going to risk a blowout or mechanical damage.

ZV

maybe he means the order he put them on (you know how you are supposed to put them on in a star pattern)

Some lug nuts have a taper on the end that fits into the hole on the rim. That end clearly should be threaded onto the rim first. If you thread the lug nut on with the other side in, it won't hold the rim properly.

It's not at all impossible to put lug nuts on backward.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: redly1

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: steppinthrax
I went to get new tires on my wife's Nissan. When I did some work on the car I accidently put the Lug nuts on backwards <---Idiot!!!!!

It is physically impossible to put a lug nut on backwards...

For the OP: As long as the tires are all the same size and both tires on each axle are inflated to the same pressure you'll be fine. It's not optimal and you may be compromising traction, but it's not going to risk a blowout or mechanical damage.

ZV

maybe he means the order he put them on (you know how you are supposed to put them on in a star pattern)

If he did mean that, he needs to look up the definition of "backwards". If you reverse the order of the star pattern, it's still a star pattern....

ZV

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
Some lug nuts have a taper on the end that fits into the hole on the rim. That end clearly should be threaded onto the rim first. If you thread the lug nut on with the other side in, it won't hold the rim properly.

It's not at all impossible to put lug nuts on backward.

And just how will you get a socket over the bullet-nose part of the lug nut? You can hand-tighten some backwards (most lug nuts for alloy wheels have only one end open, so those literally cannot be reversed, but some steel wheels with hubcaps do have fully-open lug nuts), but it's simply not possible to get the socket over the tapered end and still have it grip the nut.

I say again, it's not possible to put the lug nuts on "backwards". At least, not without using an open-end wrench to tighten them and at that point we're talking about some pretty monumental idiocy.

ZV

 

[Pacfanweb]

Originally posted by: NogginBoink

Some lug nuts have a taper on the end that fits into the hole on the rim. That end clearly should be threaded onto the rim first. If you thread the lug nut on with the other side in, it won't hold the rim properly.

It's not at all impossible to put lug nuts on backward.

I'd love to see a lug nut with a tapered end that didn't have a shoulder that was bigger than the hex-head part of the lug nut....you wouldn't be able to get a socket over it.
And we are talking "complete moron" territory to force a larger socket over the shoulder.

If there is a car that has perfectly straight surfaces that taper off and don't have a larger shoulder at the beginning of the taper...first of all, I'd like to see them, and secondly, if any do exist they are VERY rare.