So today driving into work I suddenly hear a very weird "thunking" sound followed by air hissing; pulled into a commuter lot, turns out some idiot thought it would be a great a idea to throw a 1.5" hunting knife blade into the middle of the street. Ended up cutting through a few of the steel reinforcing bands and I'm being told they won't fix the tire for safety reasons. I'm going to take the tire to another shop, but in the mean time I'm considering replacing both rear tires as the other one doesn't have a ton of tread left as it is.

I have the original Bridgestone Potenzza's on the car, and have been happy with the driving performace, but not the tread wear. Looking on Tirerack it doesn't look like the Michelin Pilot Sport SP2s are much more then the potenzzas and have much better reviews and specs in all areas (including tread wear of 220 vs 140). Wondering if it is ok to change out just the rear tires for a different brand of tires (obviously keeping the same size as original). Thoughts? I'm also open to other tire suggestions.

 

It won't be a problem changing out the rears with a completely different brand than the front. The trouble starts when you start replacing one side with a different brand/new tire and not the other side.

But what you're suggesting is fine and safe.

 

^^^+1 I ran different front and rear brand tires for a summer and had no problems

 

i am running them right now, kdw2 fronts and t1r rears

 

It can cause issues with the VDC, but it depends on the state of your fronts. It won't necessarily cause problems, but it's not unheard of.

 

1.5" blade is no hunting knife.. that's a toy.

All kidding aside, sorry to hear about your tire.

 

haha that sucks. quit running over knives.

 

it wont be a problem unless youre talking about different speed rated fronts and rears.

 

The speed rating difference won't really matter unless the OP plans on driving at sustained high speeds(such as 120 or 130 MPH or faster) with a lower speed rating tire on the rear than the front(assuming he hasn't changed his front tires to a lower speed-rated tire already). They don't really make any rear tires that fit on the stock rims for our cars that are rated for less than 130 MPH(that means that the tire can withstand 130 MPH for 10 minutes straight according to the rating system). Unless you're doing some real crazy stuff in your car... realisticly, it's unlikely to matter what the speed rating that you get for your tires is, unless you manage to find some no-name unbelievably low-budget tire company that makes an L,N,P, or Q rated tire for your car and unwisely buy those tires and try to go fast on them for a continuously long time.

 

I replaced the rears on mine with a lesser brand and I'm not too happy with the results. I have Falkens in the front and Hercules on the back.

 

One, yes, I know it's not a real hunting knife ( ), more the cheap small things they sell at Dicks, still really annoying to have stuck in your tire. On closer inspection it's a Buck 170 if that means anything to anyone. I was more using that term to describe the cutting surface and knife style.

Also, the speed ratings should be the same, or the rears will be rated higher (the pilot sports come standard on 911 Turbos).

 

i have no problems with my front tires being a different brand then rears. bfgoodrich in rear and general tire in front.

 

I had a ton of problems with a set of non-premium brand tires.
each brand/model has a different "revolutions per mile" value and, depending on the front/rear revolutions per mile values, problems can occur.
in my case, VDC had to be turned off at all time because it kicked in at a slightest turn or a lane change.
also, the inconsistent sidewall stiffness caused very unstable and nervous driving dynamics.
after having so much trouble for a few months, I had to buy a full set of tires (both front and rear) and all of the problems went away.
if you're careful with the above, it should be ok to use different brands.

 

i will take g2skyline post into consideration when i buy new tires. my car came with different brand tires and drives fine for me. but it would be nice to have same brand tires all around if i had the extra cash to replace them.

 

I'm hoping to not have any problems since both will be a premium tire (Bridgestone Potenzzas and Michelin Pilot Sports), with the rear looking to get better life and overall better performance over the stock tires. I just don't really wanna shell out a grand + install for tires when the front still look decent.