to replace tyres in sets or not?

rapid_uphill

do you replace tyres in sets or just as one at a time? i usually wear the back tyre down and replace as a set. but i could swap the nearly bald rear with the front before replacing as a pair when both are bald or i could just buy one tyre as and when needed.

with good tyres being expensive these days, is replacing a pair of tyres when one tyre has tread on false economy?
i would say perfomance wise you should replace as a set when one is nearly bald, but is there a happy medium? and are you bothered it will impair perfomance if both tyres are from different manufacturers ande dont match?

Northwind

I can see no reason at all to replace them together tbh.

blister pus

Me neither. So >> :?

MacAndCheese

I wear out rears faster, but only replace one at a time as necessary, I'll move the most grippy tyre to the front though. so I usally end up with a cycle of:

remove and discard old rear> move old front to rear> new tyre on front.

rapid_uphill

its perfomance vs economy
you would replace as a set for perfomance reasons wouldnt you?

.blitz

rapid_uphill wrote:

do you replace tyres in sets or just as one at a time?

I don't even replace the tyres on my motorcycle in sets, Pilot Powers work just fine with Corsa IIIs etc.

As for replacing bicycle tyres in sets...the back tyre follows in the wake of the front one so providing the front is in reasonably good shape the back tyre has an easy ride. Take it down to the carcass.

MacAndCheese wrote:

remove and discard old rear> move old front to rear> new tyre on front.

+1

ride_whenever

MacAndCheese wrote:

I wear out rears faster, but only replace one at a time as necessary, I'll move the most grippy tyre to the front though. so I usally end up with a cycle of:

remove and discard old rear> move old front to rear> new tyre on front.

This is the thing to do with identical tyres front and rear, however if you run different tyres front and rear then you need to replace them as they wear out. Although I'd replace the front when it gets less grippy than the rear tyre.

blister pus

rapid_uphill wrote:

its perfomance vs economy
you would replace as a set for perfomance reasons wouldnt you?

If they both had roughly the same wear and down to the skin, then obviously yes. But the type of tyres I'd go for give performance when the centre has worn right down and the outer edges are still digging in. And i usually put the same tyres on at the same time so the wear is pretty darn even across both.