GT2 AWD Tire Replacement

[Hoonin]

I’ve experienced a ton of flats over the past month. Most of them on the 2 rear tires. Does anyone know if I’m able to get away with just replacing the 2 rears on an AWD GT2? I know on a lot of AWD cars that’s a huge no. The tread depths on the front are 8/32nds, the new tires are 11/32nds.

 

[techguy888]

A ton of flats? Have you taken it to a tire shop? Sounds like either bad mounts or valve stems need replacement.

 

[D.J.]

I assume it will be perfectly fine...

With staggered OEM tires (255 rear and 225 front). My rears were at 3/32" while my front's were at 7/32" at ~30K Kms.
Since they can't be rotated front to back - this minor thread depth disparity will always occur.

The center diff is electronic with wet clutches. It surely can handle this slight variance in circumference front VS rear.

 

[eflyguy]

I’ve experienced a ton of flats over the past month. Most of them on the 2 rear tires. Does anyone know if I’m able to get away with just replacing the 2 rears on an AWD GT2? I know on a lot of AWD cars that’s a huge no. The tread depths on the front are 8/32nds, the new tires are 11/32nds.

What does the owners manual warning tell you?

 

[Hoonin]

What does the owners manual warning tell you?

First paragraph in the manual,

“Don’t bother reading me, please go to “stingerforum.org”, and ask all questions. K thx.”

Instructions unclear.

 

[Hoonin]

A ton of flats? Have you taken it to a tire shop? Sounds like either bad mounts or valve stems need replacement.

6 flats in the first 4-5 weeks of owning the car, all of them some sort of metal debris. The weird part, is that I travel to different locations for my company, I take a completely different road/highway for the differ locations.... I guess it was just really bad luck. After the 3rd flat, I thought someone was screwing me, so I was religiously inspecting my tires, driveway, and street immediately in front of my house before I would leave each day. Same goes for when I would leave a work location.

The crazy thing, I put 30,000 miles on my 2018 F150 in the first year of owning it, traveling to the same places. Not a single flat other than a bearing that went bad at a car wash and ended up in my tire.

 

[D.J.]

What does the owners manual warning tell you?

I do not believe there is any warning in the manual regarding replacing 1, 2, or 4 tires.

The only warning I could see suggested replacing with the OEM size tires. But nothing about needing to replace all 4 if you choose to replace only the rears.

 

[MerlintheMad]

6 flats in the first 4-5 weeks of owning the car, all of them some sort of metal debris. The weird part, is that I travel to different locations for my company, I take a completely different road/highway for the differ locations.... I guess it was just really bad luck. After the 3rd flat, I thought someone was screwing me, so I was religiously inspecting my tires, driveway, and street immediately in front of my house before I would leave each day. Same goes for when I would leave a work location.

The crazy thing, I put 30,000 miles on my 2018 F150 in the first year of owning it, traveling to the same places. Not a single flat other than a bearing that went bad at a car wash and ended up in my tire.

That was your mistake: you should continue to take the SAME route, that way you remove the bulk of contamination by running over it; and sooner or later it will be the cleanest route to travel. Hah. Look where you live: Detroit has a reputation for high contamination on roads. Not sure where I got that, but when I looked at your location I went, "Well, yeah! Detroit!"

Your truck just ate them and spit them out over time. The high aspect ratio tires on our cars don't have nearly the same tread depth.

 

[eflyguy]

I do not believe there is any warning in the manual regarding replacing 1, 2, or 4 tires.

Ding ding ding!

We have a winner!

I guess the Stinger isn't one of the "a lot of AWD cars that’s a huge no" the OP seems to know about.

 

[Hoonin]

I appreciate all of the answers guys.

Thank you all.

 

[Classifiedsecret]

I put a new set of mich a/s on back in early december. I got a bolt in my front passenger side tire in late February. Never went flat. Drove it to work and back- ~20miles or so a day- for 3 days. Tirerack honored their road hazard warrenty and I replaced just the one tire. I have not felt anything wrong with replacing just the one tire. And from personal experience, I think it should be just fine replacing one tire for daily driving, given that it is the same size as the other side.

 

[turboAWD]

That was your mistake: you should continue to take the SAME route, that way you remove the bulk of contamination by running over it; and sooner or later it will be the cleanest route to travel. Hah. Look where you live: Detroit has a reputation for high contamination on roads. Not sure where I got that, but when I looked at your location I went, "Well, yeah! Detroit!"

I've driven through Detroit and in it occasionally. The potholes on I-94/I-75 are something else..

 

[NCBee]

Ding ding ding!

We have a winner!

I guess the Stinger isn't one of the "a lot of AWD cars that’s a huge no" the OP seems to know about.

I picked up a couple of replacements for my BALD rear Michelins on my 2018 GT AWD... found a couple of used Continentals that were dirt cheap (couldn't resist). Thing is, it looks like one of them is just slightly newer than the other. So the tread is just slightly more worn on one than the other. Will this cause a problem w/ the AWD system?

 

[MerlintheMad]

I picked up a couple of replacements for my BALD rear Michelins on my 2018 GT AWD... found a couple of used Continentals that were dirt cheap (couldn't resist). Thing is, it looks like one of them is just slightly newer than the other. So the tread is just slightly more worn on one than the other. Will this cause a problem w/ the AWD system?

AWD drive is affected negatively when one set of wheels/tires OD is larger/smaller than the other set. A tire with a few millimeters of tread difference isn't going to affect AWD systems; but it could give wonky handling characteristics, depending on how much more worn one tire is from the other(s). Personally, I won't mix and match tires just to save money; not on this car.

(I did that a lot when I was raising a family and was stretching every dollar; but none of them handled worth a damn anyway and I always drove with a lot of respect for the low grade feel of the things. My worst infraction was coming back from Maryland to Utah, and the spare tire that I had put on the RR blew on the freeway between Des Moines and Omaha; I'm sure it was because of mismatched tread pattern causing overheating; anyway, the "new" spare that I had went on, and as soon as we reached Omaha I got four matched Michelins: the first set of four brand new tires I had ever bought, and high grade to boot: my word, was I impressed with the difference: the handling, the smoothness, the quietude: I had never experienced it: our 15 passenger Club Wagon was like a different vehicle: it felt brand new. And from that time forth, I never bought used tires again. Learning curve stuff. )

 

[vipeboy2000]

AWD drive is affected negatively when one set of wheels/tires OD is larger/smaller than the other set. A tire with a few millimeters of tread difference isn't going to affect AWD systems; but it could give wonky handling characteristics, depending on how much more worn one tire is from the other(s). Personally, I won't mix and match tires just to save money; not on this car.

(I did that a lot when I was raising a family and was stretching every dollar; but none of them handled worth a damn anyway and I always drove with a lot of respect for the low grade feel of the things. My worst infraction was coming back from Maryland to Utah, and the spare tire that I had put on the RR blew on the freeway between Des Moines and Omaha; I'm sure it was because of mismatched tread pattern causing overheating; anyway, the "new" spare that I had went on, and as soon as we reached Omaha I got four matched Michelins: the first set of four brand new tires I had ever bought, and high grade to boot: my word, was I impressed with the difference: the handling, the smoothness, the quietude: I had never experienced it: our 15 passenger Club Wagon was like a different vehicle: it felt brand new. And from that time forth, I never bought used tires again. Learning curve stuff. )

yep.. also, especially if replacing only the rears, since the staggered setup's 255/35r19's are already 2.5mm shorter than the front 225/40r19 tires.. so slightly worn fronts and new rears would actually make it more even!

also, Merlin, i read your sentence "and the spare tire that I had put on the RR blew on the freeway" not as "right rear" tire but as Rolls-Royce and was immediately well that's why you had to stretch every dollar.. spent it all on that rolls!

 

[NS_Stinger]

As far as I'm concerned as long as you replace them in pairs (front pair / back pair) you should be just fine.

 

[D.J.]

I picked up a couple of replacements for my BALD rear Michelins on my 2018 GT AWD... found a couple of used Continentals that were dirt cheap (couldn't resist). Thing is, it looks like one of them is just slightly newer than the other. So the tread is just slightly more worn on one than the other. Will this cause a problem w/ the AWD system?

What is the thread depth of the 2 tires in question?

if one is 7/32" and the other is 8/32" or 9/32" - I would say - absolutely fine.

if one is 2/32" and the other is 11/32 - I would frown upon this.

 

[NCBee]

It was probably 10-15% difference. But I sold the used tires and just bought new ones. Thanks for the reply.