Tyres - does it matter if you have different ones

Happymanc

Hello,

As I was pulling into work yesterday I swerved to miss a pothole but went over some glass instead :evil: , completely shredded my tyre so I had to get a replacement to get home.

LBS only had Spec Roubaix Armadillo Elite which I bought.

Now I was wondering because my other tyre is a Spec All Condition Armadillo, which is the best to have on the front and rear or should i just get a matching pair and if so which set.

Thanks

4kicks

Conventional wisdom is you put your newest tyre on the front as that is where the steering and braking happens - one would assume you would put your "grippiest" tyre there if they are different...

Im sure having two different tyres upsets the purisits, but I never seem to get my act together and have been running a combination of Pro Race, open Pro CXs, Velofelx Pave and a Hutchison Fusion in black, red, yellow, blue and grey, and never seem to have two tyres of the same brand, colour or age...I guess it depends on how much you care...

graham_g

I with 4 kicks in the 'not giving a toss department' - unless it's actually noticeable to you personally then it surely can't be too much of a problem.

top_bhoy

Graham G wrote:

I with 4 kicks in the 'not giving a toss department' - unless it's actually noticeable to you personally then it surely can't be too much of a problem.

I think it might be noticeable if one was red and the other blue

Gussio

4kicks wrote:

Conventional wisdom is you put your newest tyre on the front as that is where the steering and braking happens - one would assume you would put your "grippiest" tyre there if they are different...

Sheldon Brown recommends not rotating your tyres: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-rotation.html

andy_wrx

But he's not rotating tyres, he's fitting one new tyre.

Since tyres tend to wear-out faster on the back faster than the front, Sheldon's advice against rotating tyres is against taking the less-worn tyre off the front and putting it on the back, taking the most-worn tyre off the back and fitting it on the front.

He's saying fitting a worn-out tyre on the front is dangerous.
So if you replace one tyre, fitting the new tyre to the front follows that advice precisely.

Gussio

Indeed. Perhaps it was a misinterpretation, but I inferred rotation from the previous post. The advice from Sheldon is good, as ever, but maybe not appropriate for this issue.

Mapman

on my winter hack i run fortessa tricomp 23 mm on front and for a bit more comfort conti gp4000 25mm on rear ... Both red of course .no problem

aracer

The fashion police will shoot you.

andrewgturnbull

aracer wrote:

The fashion police will shoot you.

I wouldn't start worrying until you find you've got a different colour of tape on each side of your handlebars.

Mapman

What about different colour socks ?

andrewgturnbull

Mapman wrote:

What about different colour socks ?

Triathlete mate - we don't wear socks.

penugent

I've run my winter bike for months with different makes of tyre, for the same reason as the OP, and haven't noticed any problems with the bike.

Adamskii

The back will always wear quicker than the front so if you start with a new pair then the back will need to be changed first. When this happens I'd move the part worn front onto the back and then put the new tyre on the front. When the back wears again, repeat the process.

Hugh A

I've just bought a Conti Force/Attack pair - and they're not the same anyway!

As long as they are not that different I don't think it matters too much unless you're in a race. If one is larger than the other I'd be inclined to put the bigger one on the rear.