My wreck, described in MINI talk forum, killed my right front tire. I started wondering today whether it is OK to just get one new tire, or whether I should get two to keep things "balanced". I have a feeling that 3 tires w/ 11K and one new might make the car feel a little funny. What do you guys (and girls) think?

My tires have 11,000 miles on them and weren't rotated until 10,000. That means I have two tires on the back that did 10K on the front. BTW, these are 195/55/16 Dunlop 3000DSST's (run-flats) and I like run-flats. If I got two new ones, I could keep the old one as a replacement in case I damaged a tire on the left side. I don't think I could use it on the other side.

 

The car will probably not "feel funny" but if the new tires have 4/32" or more tread depth than the old tires I'd get 2 because as the tires get low you will have a noticeable difference in hydroplane resistance. I'd put both new ones on the front and let them wear down to the level of the rears before I ever rotated them again. This would give you an emergency spare also, is you ever needed it.