Just got a blow out in one of my advans. i have 8,000 miles on them and look still good for 3-4k more. do i need to get 4 new ones or just two??

Alos any thoughts on the Conti Sport Contact tyres??

 

You could just get one and have it shaved to match the tread depth of the others. You'll be shaving off about $100 worth of tread, but it's an option.

But if you're in Connecticut, shouldn't you be taking the Advans off and putting on tires which can handle the winter?

 

You always buy tires in pairs.... don't buy just one.... or shave tires

 

correct. just need to know what to do when summer comes around again.

 

Actually, I don't. I've bought single tires on at least three occasions I can think of.

In the case of RallyBrit's problem, where he has three good tires each of which has about 1/3 of its tread life left, he's got two options which involve buying new A046 tires:

One, throw out the three good tires, each with 1/3 tread remaining -- basically, he wastes one tire tread lifetime (3 times 1/3).

Or, buy a new A046, shave away 2/3 of its tread; basically, he wastes 2/3 of a tire tread lifetime, but has to pay extra for shaving.

Financially, it probably doesn't make much difference either way. Although with the first option (buy four new A046 tires), he can always try to sell the three good ones.

 

if you don't replace tires in pairs it will cause uneven wear on boh the tires and can also lead to needing an allignment.....
and if you shave a tires you really do need some help

 

The idea that tires need to be replaced in pairs is only useful to tire salesmen who foist this on uneducated customers.

If you have a 2WD vehicle, there is precious little problem with replacing a single tire on the non-drive axle, since it is not connected to any other tire; and if the tire to be replaced is on the drive axle, just do a front to back rotation and then replace it. I've done this with both FWD and RWD cars with no problems. The only exception I can imagine would be a car which runs different sizes front and rear, like a Corvette or S2000. On such a car, you will want to replace the tires on the driven axle as a matched pair.

If you have an AWD vehicle, replacing tires in pairs isn't enough -- you need to match the diameter of all four tires. Just replacing the rears or just replacing the fronts is going to stress the center differential, unless you have a locked center differential, in which case you'll have tires wearing like crazy.

As for mismatched tires causing the car to need an alignment -- I can't imagine how. It requires pretty strong force to change a car's alignment, like hitting a curb; the slight pressure that might be placed on the suspension by mismatched tires is nowhere near large enough to cause alignment changes.

I don't know what bias you have against shaving tires... If the best solution to a problem is to shave a tire, why not do it? It's relatively cheap, and allows you to specify the exact tread depth you want on a tire.