Our little fiesta st likes to eat tires, somehow. Now I have two tires, one is 140, and the other 200. I thought about putting the 14o tires on front and then wearing them out, then just buying a whole new set for next year. The car is on blizzaaks in the winter. Would it hurt to have that much more grip in the front?
Thanks
I would say yes, for aggressive driving. Your front tire will have adhesion limits that the back can’t handle (in theory). This could cause a high speed spin.
For street driving on dry flat roads, you shouldn’t be driving aggressively, so makes no difference.
What tires are we talking about? Some “140” tw is not as good as some top notch “200”tw.
That’s not a great indicator of grip level... a lot of factors play into that. Id run them without givin it a second thought.
You’d probably be better off with the 200’s on the front. 140 is getting pretty soft. Depending on how many miles you plan on putting on them till the winter change, the 200 *should* do better wear wise.
There is probably less difference between a 140 and a 200 than there is between new tires and five year old identical tires, or between tires with 9mm of tread vs the same tire with 3 mm.
Put the tires on, go someplace safe, and see if you like the balance. If not, rotate and see if it's better.
I know I’ve kept squishy snow tires on the back of my work vehicle but had all season performance on the front one time. The handling around high-speed corners on the street was pretty interesting. Basically, it would feel like the ass end of the vehicle was giving way on every high-speed turn. What was actually happening Is the side wall was flexing way more on the snow tires then the performance ones on the front. It felt like you were drifting with a slight slip angle for every corner, but you were not losing grip at either end. Like I said, a very strange and unsettling feeling.
Do you have 2 tires? Or 2 of two different tires?
As long as it's two of the same per axle then who cares? Run em. I'd raced and DDed like that for years on multiple cars. Between racecar and DD I often have more wear at one end and just replace those two with whatever strikes my fancy.
If the 140s are the stock tires and the 200s are any autocross street tires, the 200TW tires have at least as much grip. But whatever tires you put on the front will still wear faster. I'd do it, just keep it in the back of your mind that you have two different pairs of tires on the car and that, particularly in the rain, the two ends of the car might not quite behave the same.
I say go for it, I've run these kinds of setups many times. Last year I was running 200TW tires in the front (Dunlop Z1SS) and Kumho SPTs in the back, which are something like 320TW. The car was a bit sidewaystastic near the limits but no big deal.
140TW suggests a street-legal semi-slick. Something else to watch out for with that is differing grip level changes with heat. Your front might start out less grippy than the rear and later become more grippy...possibly even gaining grip while the rears lose grip as the tires get really hot.
Edit: Here's me driving on Z1SS front, SPTs rear:
Every drag car has two different tread ratings, just send it.
Javelin said:Every drag car has two different tread ratings, just send it.
For that matter, drag car builders often run "ZOMG YOU'LL KILL YOURSELF!!!!1!" combos such as slicks on one end and radials on the other, or even motorcycle tires on the front and slicks on the back. Radials of differnet design and a small treadwear difference is not something I'd worry about for normal use.
I wouldn't think twice about it. TW ratings are relatively arbitrary, especially at those low levels. Age and condition will likely matter more.
FWIW, for awhile I had a $700 Accord. Hated how that thing pushed in the corners, just in regular street driving. Then I noticed that the car, which had 2 Yokohamas and 2 Kumhos, had the stickier tires in the back. Switched that up and it was a much better driving experience. In my old Miata, I was fighting snap oversteer and went the other direction for an event--Azenis in the front; R-11's in the back. That also helped the situation at hand.
I meant to post last night. The 140 tires are the stock tires that came with it. The other tires are some "raptor" tires I bought last year for $44 each. They have a 300 rating. I'm only hesitant about this b/c it's my wife's dd. I just wanted to get these tires on and wear them out.
No complaints, but I am still shocked at how this car eats the front tires. Once I have all of the same brand/wear, I am going to rotate them like a bugger.
In reply to GameboyRMH :
Man, does that look like fun!
The stock tires on a Fiesta ST are Bridgestone RE050As, which have grip in the same ballpark as 200TW tires, even though their treadwear rating is less. So there shouldn't be any meaningful difference in grip from one axle to the next for street driving purposes.
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