I need some opinions. Took my right rear tire in for repair today and it has a hugh nail which has torn the sidewall. Since it can't be patched/repaired I'm having to buy a new tire!!(the old tire was lyr old) ofcourse the tire dealer is wanting to sell 2 tire due to tread design,etc. Fianlly my question, will it make a difference if the tread on the new tire is close,but not the same as the other rear tire? Thanks, Doug

you'll be fine with 1 new tire IMO if it's a daily driver. It's not uncommon to do 2 tires though.

It would depend on mileage of the year old tire, tread depth and measured diam. Are both tires the same in dimension? As Red_Johnny said, you'll probably be just fine with one tire if you don't mind the difference. You may be able to tell the difference or you may not while driving.

I think it would drive me nuts. I'm kind of a symetrical kind of thinker and having differing tires would bug me. (its only in my head)

New tire is same dimension as old ,and tread depth is very close. If I could afford 2 new ones I'd get'em but money's an issue.I'm with you ,Biggrizzly,in knowing I've got 2 different tires on back.I'll be thinking everybody will notice,and be thinking "what a jerk,he's got different tires on his vette!! Oh Well....Thanks,Doug

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Well then you're ok!

People should be concerned WAYYYY more about how fresh their tires are, not so much whether they match. Most C4s I see have tires that are 5-10 years old.

Obviously I'd prefer a similar performance tire. A large variation in tire diameter can fool the ABS and supposedly cause more wear on the limited slip, but it sounds like you're ok.

Good point about age of tires. I have a set of four Kumhos on rims that look pretty good but are five years old and hard as a rock!!!

Kind of like running shoes. They sometimes look great on the outside but after 500 miles, they have lost the bounce and you will get injured.

Some analogy.

Years ago I mixed tires on the same axel and within days had an accident. I knew right away that the car (Corvair) was not handling right but I didn't want to spend the extra money. I will never do that again.

and if you can, find the build date of tire, they have sold old ones that sat on a shelf for YEARS ,my friend bought a set that were 15yrs oldand sold as new ,from a tire dealer, the only one who will notice is you that they are not matched .

The age issue is why I like Tire Rack. They have such a high volume, that they don't have a problem with old tires.

Get the same brand and style, if possible. Then it will be fine. I don't like different brands/models of tires on at the same time, it can lead to unpredictable things - traction differences can be gnarly.

The size issue comes really into play with AWD setups. Those are really tricky to deal with... Center diffs, transfer cases... they all get screwed with.

As a follow-up to this,I did just bite the bullet and ordered 2 Sumitomo HZR III's from Tire Rack. So far they seem nice,not loud,hold well in the rain,we'll see..Doug

A lot of folks like those tires. They are not bad and a real good value.

I am a fan of Kumho, but that's just me... I have used them several times and liked them all. My last set, MXs, were really nice, until they reached the last 3k~4k miles. They got real icky then. I still got about 35k out of them!