I have 16K on my run-flats, and they've never been rotated. The fronts currently have some wear on the outside shoulders. The right has more than the left, but I think it's from taking a lot of long left turns at intersections, as opposed to being an alignment issue. I want to go to non-runflats eventually.

Should I

A) Rotate run-flats front to back now, and buy four non-runflats later.

or

B) Wait until fronts are worn, place rear run-flats on front and place two new non-runflats on rear.

I've heard differing opinions on whether or not it's all right to run different tread patterns, but I haven't heard any on mixing runflats/non-runflats.

???

 

Too late for rotation. I too made the same mistake when I had my '04 MCS. I rotated at 17K and the fronts were very worn out while the rears still had 75% thread left on them. Problem is that due to the different aligment geometry of the fronts vs rears, the rear tires will worn out very differently creating a "scalloped" wear pattern in the thread. Once you move the rears out to the front, the woobling noise and vibrating steering wheel at speeds above 50 MPH will drive you nuts

It is not a good idea to move the worned out tires out to the rear either.

My advice is to leave everything the way it is until the fronts appraoch the unsafe worn marks and get a brand new set of rubber all around. Make it a habit of rotating every 3K-5K miles to extended the life of the tires and prevent the scalloping wear pattern of the rears.

 

Yep! What C4 said plus, I'd consider dumping the runflats when the time comes.

 

I'm defintely dumping the runflats.

I already told my wife that I'll be asking for a full set of new tires for Christmas. The fronts should be sufficiently shot by then.

So everyone agrees that running two runflats and two non-runflats is a bad idea?

 

I would not mix up runflats and radials. I don't think that is a safe choice. Like I said, leave everything the way it is, keep on top of the air pressures and start fresh with a new set of rubber. From then on, plan on rotating the tires at 3K-5K mile intervals.

 

I'm no tire expert, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night ( ), but I don't see a problem with running RF and non-RF tires for daily driving. I certainly wouldn't do any track days or autocrossing with that configuration, but for everyday driving I don't see a problem with it.

I'm sure someone more smarterer that me will chime in.

 

im not more smarter but I would suggest using the run-flats on the
front and non-runflats on the rear if that's your choice.

but i would recommend you rotate your tires now since you said
only the shoulders are worn and get the most out of them...probably
last you another 10k miles or so.

 

I didn't rotate my tires until about 18-19K and they have since lasted me to 32K! They were quite worn at the time to, however I just abused the tires more after rotation . There was a noticeable change in driving attitude in curves.

When driven right I could induce oversteer or behave with perfectly neutral conditions. Just goes to show with proper driving how balanced the MCS chassis is stock!!!

BTW replacement tires arrived today - Pirelli P Zero Nero M+S 205/50-16. Let the craziness begin...

CARVNIT

 

So you didn't get any vibration or other problems after rotation?

What kind of "change in driving attitude" did you experience? Was your rear end noticably looser?

I love it when I get contradictory advice on NAM.

 

+1

 

You may ge contradictory advice because people have different experiences!

Heck, just rotate them and see what happens, all will probably be just fine. Maybe you'll want to have them rebalanced, perhaps not. Try it first.

No reason why the more worn tires on the rear will cause the rear to be looser. In fact, the opposite is true (except in wet conditions.) Serious track drivers will pay extra for a set of shaved tires. What does that tell you? :smile: