Replacing Tyres ... In pairs OK ?

[Fluids]

2004 Td5 Auto with Cooper 255/70 x 16. Spare is the original XPC (looks like it's never been fitted to a road wheel). Coopers were fitted at about 70,000km and I'd guess they were never rotated ... I purchased the Disco at 120,000km, now at 130,000km.

When we purchased the Disco, the front left tyre was badly feathered on the outside ... almost at legal limit ... inside edge is as good as the other 3 tyres. Got a wheel alignment done (6mm out) and swapped fronts to rear & vice-versa (before the wheel alignment). Done 10,000km with the worn one on the back and it's getting close to replacement time ...

Now, 2 of the remaining tyres still have _plenty_ of life left in them, a 3rd slightly less tread (_slightly_) and then there's the stuffed one, and the non-matching XPC spare.

What I am considering (before getting too much more wear on the good existing tyres) is .... fit 2 x new tyres to match the existing ones, keeping the two best existing tyres, put the 3rd good remaining tyre on as the spare (so I now have 5x matched tyres) ,dice the 4th worn one & sideline the XPC.

What say you all ??

Any issues doing this (as it's an AWD vehicle) ??

New tyres go on the front or the rear ??

I rotate my tyres every 10k service, and keep my pressures in check. I could rotate the 3x older tyres only for a while ... ??

Lets avoid the Cooper stigma (please)... they came with the vehicle, and so far I'm happy enough with them to buy 2x more ... 'cause that's a dam sight cheaper than buying 5x new tyres (same brand or different) !

Some folks say it's OK, and then others say NO!! ... none of them are Landrover people btw ... and opinions are like a***holes ... everyones got one ...

So, give me yours! (opinion, that is :D)

Kev..

[strangy]

Ive always put the new ones on the front. Thats the steering end and significant portion of the braking end, so more tread the better.

So long as tyres are the same dimensions and general construction, changing in pairs is no problem.

Cheers

[Basil135]

Ditto... :D

I have changed tyres in pairs before, and never had a problem. In fact, if you are staying with the same tyre all the time, then this is the best way to spread your costs.

Even if you have to do the next pair in 6 to 12 months, you only have to come up with half the $$$ each time.

[Blknight.aus]

yep the landies handle a 50/50 replacement schedule well I do it when I need to be cheap about a tyre swap.

new tyres to the front
best of the tyres left to the rear
keep the existing spare

10K Km later at the next rotation
the fronts goto the rear
the new tyres go onto the front
the best of all the tyres go onto the spare and if my trailer is on the same rubber as the vehicle or I know someones who is I offload my old tyres to the trailer.
trailer rubber goes to the recycler

I usually plan my new tyres at the 30% of the tread wear ABOVE the tyre wear indicators and I typically average about 100KKm out of a set before I need to think about swapping.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

is there a size limit to this?

[Blknight.aus]

the manual specified 10% difference is the maximum acceptable limit.

[Jedimastermat]

I have two spares,
so its two new to the front, existing front to back
existing back as spares.

;)