Tire advice wanted

[smatthew]

I have a LR RWD Tesla Model 3, and I made the mistake of not rotating the tires. So my rear tires are bald, and my front tires still have a decent amount of tread left. Should I:

• Buy two new tires, put them on the rear. Don't rotate and they'll wear out about the time the front tires do. Then start rotating.
• Buy four new tires. Rotate religiously.

I'm also trying to decide whether I stick with the MXM4 tire, or go to something like a CrossClimate+. Would putting new CrossClimate+ on the rear, and leaving the MXM4 on the front be a bad idea?

 

[Glamisduner]

I have a LR RWD Tesla Model 3, and I made the mistake of not rotating the tires. So my rear tires are bald, and my front tires still have a decent amount of tread left. Should I:

• Buy two new tires, put them on the rear. Don't rotate and they'll wear out about the time the front tires do. Then start rotating.
• Buy four new tires. Rotate religiously.

I'm also trying to decide whether I stick with the MXM4 tire, or go to something like a CrossClimate+. Would putting new CrossClimate+ on the rear, and leaving the MXM4 on the front be a bad idea?

How much tread is in the fronts? Also most tire shops will want to put the new tires on the front but I get what you're saying. I have done the two tire thing in past cars but I the to go for the best option for the 3. I have mixed brands before without issues but I was pretty happy with mxm4s for general driving use.

 

[ewoodrick]

If you don't replace all, then you are stuck with left right tire swaps. Suck it up, go for all 4.

 

[SMAlset]

In any event maybe hold on to the two fairly good ones if you have garage space available in case you get an unrepairable flat and need to throw a tire on until a replacement can be had. Have read sometimes a certain tire gets sold out and there's a wait.

You and I were kind of in the same order/wait delivery timeframe and I was just mentioning to my husband that I should be getting my tires rotated soon. I do more in town driving so probably not too bad yet but still should be checked. Your post is a stronger reminder to do so and save myself some money in the end!

 

[animorph]

I used to replace just the rear tires on my Porsche 911, twice as often as the fronts. You have to be ready for a possible handling change if you push the car hard enough for that to matter. And you might be fine in the dry but tricky in the wet.

I'm pretty sure I ran different tire brands front and rear at least once. You'll have to fast talk your tire shop into letting you do that because of the possible handling nastiness. They really shouldn't let you do that. But if your stickier tires are on the rear (dry or wet) your car should understeer, which is what the car makers are shooting for these days.

So replacing all four would be ideal. Replacing just the rear's is possible with some care. The shop might not let you put significantly different tires on the rear only, and that's probably a good thing.

 

[Chisale]

I vote for replace all 4 and rotate next time. But just curious. How long/far did you go without rotating and for your back tires to get that bad?

 

[smatthew]

30K miles, no rotations. Oops.

 

[Chisale]

30K miles, no rotations. Oops.

Yeah. That'll do it with a RWD car. Especially a really fast RWD car that corners like it's on a rail. Lesson learned and good advice for those of us like me that still are under 10k lifetime miles.

 

[Teedub21]

If you like the stock tires just replace the rears.