Tires of different compounds for the street

[twobone]

Hi,

 

I've been looking for 13 inch summer performance tires which are almost impossible to get in Canada.

 

A local shop has found some Yokohama 175/60/13 A032 tires. Yokahama is getting rid of old stock. 2 in the hard compound and 2 in the soft compound.

 

I can get a set of 4 installed for $320, taxes in. This compares to about $700-1100 for other options that I have looked into which involve importing Yokohama A539 tires from the UK or paying top dollar locally for R888s.

 

 

 

At this time I'm only street driving.

 

 

A couple of questions:

 

He says that they are "old production dates". How old is too old for a this kind of tire? 2-3 years max?

 

Is it OK to run different compounds front to rear on the street? I would probably run the hard compound on the rear to maximize tread wear. Make sense?

 

My existing tires are very old 185/70/13 Dunlops. I guess I will lose .5 inches of clearance and run higher revs on the highway

 

 

Any other thoughts or comments?

[pi7ot]

Ahh.. I'd recommend that you just save and get a set of new production tyres.

I have used Kumho Victoracers(R comps) that were 20k plus miles old on the car, but the age of the rubber was the same and they had been on the Birkin since new. Once they were heat cycled out, the car was still predictable.

I'm sure you would be able to figure out what the handling balance is with the mixed compound Yoks, but the balance can change depending on the road surface and the temperature of the surface. The two different compounds will wear differently, react differently to changing ambient temp, and to fluid on the road surface.

I experimented in early fall with an ancient ('89) pair of BFG R comps on the rear and a pair of firestone street tyres on the front. I could never be confident that the handling balance would be the same as the day before.

 

Tyres are a safety item. They tend to make other safety items redundant if they don't do the job.

 

m