echawd

I have to replace my rear right tire. A shard of metal has found a new home in the treads and a mechanic has told me its too close to the outside to repair safely. I'm using the stock Bridgestone tires for the manual rx8. The car and thus theoretically the tires are about 8 months old and have just under 8k miles on them. I've been told by some that due to the limited slip differential my tires shoudl wear evenly and thus I might want to look into purchasing 2 tires. How neccessary is this. Obviously I should have a professional look at it and make the decision for me, but I'm always paranoind of salesmen trying to rip me off. I figure I can arm myself with some information first. What type of wear on one tire can I get away with? At what point (what should I look for) should I just kick the bucket and drop the cash for 2 new tires. Its also been suggested by a friend that if I move the rear tires to the front and thus have the front evenly worn tires as my rear tires it may help the situation. How possible is this? I don't really drive the car too hard and I'm not looking for ground breaking performance. I'm more worried about permanently damaging my car and its LSD due to uneven wear.

Thanks!

RotrDoc

I presume that you intend to buy one new Bridgestone Potenza, so you are talking about mixing two "identical", but unevenly worn tires on an axle (either front or rear.
If so, you can very nearly buy two tires for the same money (Kumho or Avons come to mind). These are discussed at length in other threads on this forum.

Skythe

That's the real kicker when you have a tire die on you. Is that you might have to get two instead of one.

You're being too paranoid. The only thing that you're going to wear with having slightly mismatched tires, will be....your tires. If I remember correctly, the new one will wear a lot faster than the others, due to the offset in traction. Either way, one of tires will wear faster. (someone will correct me if i'm wrong about this).

I would, if possible, buy two new tires BUT MAKE SURE, that they new tires are of the same speed rating and type. IF you don't follow that piece of advice you will jack up your handling, which may present itself to be a danger in rain or when cornering.

brillo

you could buy two used tires for the rear, and save some money that way

mysql101

i had the same thing happen to me, one of my goodyear F1 tires had a giant nail in it. The tire had around 15k miles on it. I didn't want to replace one tire ($300) and have it uneven. But I didn't want to spend $600 for two new tires, and have 15k miles on the other pair... so I bought a set of 4 new ones for $500.

New tires are http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....el=Exclaim+UHP
for 19/245/35, $120 each. I really don't notice much of a change from the F1 besides additional road noise.

DRIVINSIDEWAYS

I just went through this yesterday. Same problem only it was my left rear. I had the OEM Dunlops with about 3500 miles. I insisted on have two new tires due to the LSD, but the OEM Dunlops are $260 each!!! They are okay, but not worth that kind of money. I opted for a new set of a cheaper brand. I got the Falken 451's in 245 40 18. I decided on these because they where one of a select few that the shops had in stock. I have a track day scheduled this weekend and could not wait for them to order a different brand. $650 for the set. That is one very expensive nail!

SymSym

Why don't you just put the fronts on the rear and then they will be even in size. Put the old rear and new tyre o nthe front and presto you're ok!