Question regarding tires

[doomislegend]

Hey all,

So I've been looking around for a set of used S4/S5 wheels and may have found a pair, but the cost of the wheels alone puts me close to my budget for wheels and tires. Would I be risking anything by purchasing two different pairs of used tires with similar tread left? Ex. 80% and 60-70%, all season, and same size all around? I've looked around and I've read that different sized tires can put the differential at risk, which is obviously not something I want to do, but it seemed to be in situations much worse than slightly different tread %.

Thanks!

[doomislegend]

Eh, I think after a little more research, I've probably figured this out: Get 4 of the same tires lol. If anyone wants to chime in and confirm though, that'd be great!

[xpoweruk]

4 tyres all the same :)

[plat]

I have a set of Dunlop SportMaxx GT's for sale. New take offs from my S5. Link to my ad is in my sig. I am in Vancouver BC. Not sure how you feel about driving up here and picking them up.

[dizzlesizzle]

could always get replicas http://hartmannwheels.com/audi-wheels

[chaos2984]

If you do get different tires make sure they are no more than 2/32 different in tread depth. That is the max you want to go. When I worked for Ford we saw a lot of issues with this and the AWD explorers and Lincoln and mercery equivalent models. It would destroy both diffs and if kept driving it would destroy the center transfer case diff. What happens is that you cause the front and rear wheels to turn at different speeds. and the center diff instead of spinning all together starts to walk around with the pinions and constant spinning of the pinion/ spider gears causes excessive wear and tear. And its amplified since there are no bearings that they ride on and are not ment to be spinning all the time.

Well I don't know what your tire situation is now. But pick up the rims and wait a little bit to save up some money and then buy tires. Unless you need tires asap. But try to get 4 of the same tires if you can

[anerbe]

Besides wearing differently, some other differences:

Rolling diameter differences: Even though two different tires are of the same spec, they may have different circumferences when inflated.
Traction variations: Every type of tire will have different limits of traction, also dependent upon wet, dry, temp, etc...your front tire could grip better in the wet than the rear which could lead to sudden oversteer. You never know - therefore if I had to get different tires on the same car, I would never push the car even remotely hard. What's the point of having this car then.

Don't mix up different tires on a car, unless it's a daily beater that you don't care about.

[doomislegend]

Thanks for the input, guys!

So yeah, it sounds like I'm taking a risk by getting two different brands of tires despite being the same "size". I called the used tire place and it turns out they have 4 of the same tires with 60-70% tread depth left. I mentioned the same issue I explained to y'all and he had the exact same thing to say, and all stated he wouldn't feel comfortable selling me two different brand of tires.

@plat: Thanks for the offer, but I actually wouldn't even be able to get into BC because I don't have a passport, haha. They're also quite a bit out of my price range :)

[mavz]

Just hold off until you can do it properly... also don't waste your money on crap tires :)

[plat]

Thanks for the input, guys!

@plat: Thanks for the offer, but I actually wouldn't even be able to get into BC because I don't have a passport, haha. They're also quite a bit out of my price range :)

No problem