Mismatched tires
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 3,476
Likes: 91
From: Between Tally and Gatorville ,Florida
Mismatched tires
I've been looking for a set of black wheels for my car for awhile and today I found a set of wheels with brand new Michelins pilots tires. However, The front tires are zp tires while the rear are non zp. would there be an issue using them? Would there be any handling issues.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 21,325
Likes: 3,841
From: small town in S.E Pa. PA
St. Jude Donor '03-'04
Sidewall construction between conventional tires and run flats are so different that when the need arises, the car will not handle properly because the stiff sidewall of the run flat won't give, while the flexible softer sidewall of a conventional tire will.. this can cause a very dramatic control issue, when pushed to get out of someone's way or avoid and animal in the road... It could cause you to lose control. I would never run these two very different tires on the same car.
1/4 mile/AutoX
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 11,441
Likes: 2,185
From: Buffalo Texas
Sidewall construction between conventional tires and run flats are so different that when the need arises, the car will not handle properly because the stiff sidewall of the run flat won't give, while the flexible softer sidewall of a conventional tire will.. this can cause a very dramatic control issue, when pushed to get out of someone's way or avoid and animal in the road... It could cause you to lose control. I would never run these two very different tires on the same car.
Administrator
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 368,079
Likes: 24,732
From: In a parallel universe. Currently own 2014 Stingray Coupe.
C7 of the Year - Modified Finalist 2021
MO Events Coordinator
St. Jude Co-Organizer
St. Jude Donor '03 thru '25
NCM Sinkhole Donor
CI 5, 8 & 11 Veteran
I would not run mismatched tires on the car.
Racer
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 379
Likes: 10
From: vancouver wa
I had michelin pilot sports on all four and the rears needed to be replaced. I replaced them with proxy 4's. The fronts still had 6/32nds so i didnt replace them. All I can say is my car was all over the place, I had to keep both hands in the steering wheel and couldnt relax. I couldnt keep it straight I really thought there was another problem, like something broken. I put all new nitto invos on and everything was back to normal.
Pro
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 519
Likes: 65
From: South Salem NY
The handling of a high performance car is very much a factor of the tires. If you want and expect the car to handle like it is designed to you need to have tires that are part of that "package". Different tires have different handling characteristics. a mixed set of tires will make the car unbalanced with regards to how it handles.
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvette Engines RANKED by Peak Torque (70+ Years of Muscle!)
Joe Kucinski
Corvette ZR1X Will Be Pacing the Indy 500, And Could Probably Race, Too!
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvettes Coming to Mecum Indy 2026!
Brett Foote
Top 10 C9 Corvette MUST-HAVES to Fix These C8 Generation Flaws!
Michael S. Palmer
10 Revolutionary 'Corvette Firsts' Most People Don't Know
Joe Kucinski
