Two unrelated questions....

[UtahGT1]

Hoping some more experienced stinger owners can answer a couple of questions for me.

Does switching modes often while on a drive strain the engine or car in general

I have an AWD GT1 and understand the back tires will wear basically twice as fast as the front tires. Having AWD if my rear tires go and need to be replaced does that mean I have to replace my front tires too even if the tread on them is still good?

 

[DrMario86]

Drive modes- going from eco to sport will usually cause a down shift to get rpm closer to power band but nothing serious

Tires- you definitely want wear and grip as close as possible on the left/right. If front are wearing even, there's no reason you can't leave them until they wear out. If they're close to worn, you can sometimes get a tasty coupon or rebate for getting all 4. If your tires aren't directional, you may get a bit more even wear by rotating side to side but performance cars eat soft summer tires for breakfast even when well maintained

 

[nhcowboy28]

Cliff notes.
No. No.

 

[Blue Bucket]

Cliff notes.
No. No.

I was under the impression that with AWD the front and back diameters should be as similar as possible. Is there a Stinger specific reason for that not being the case here?

 

[nhcowboy28]

I was under the impression that with AWD the front and back diameters should be as similar as possible. Is there a Stinger specific reason for that not being the case here?

Difference is negligible.
I’m running fronts that are getting close to replacement. Rears were replaced a month ago. No issues.

 

[Jayphil]

Hoping some more experienced stinger owners can answer a couple of questions for me.

Does switching modes often while on a drive strain the engine or car in general

I have an AWD GT1 and understand the back tires will wear basically twice as fast as the front tires. Having AWD if my rear tires go and need to be replaced does that mean I have to replace my front tires too even if the tread on them is still good?

Assuming you have stock 19" staggered tire sizes. Rear have -0.4% different size vs the front. If your rear are new and your front have consumed about 6/32 of tread now you rear tires will be +0.4% taller vs the front which is negligible as mentioned. After that if you front need to be changed before you rears (new front and rear consumed about 6/32) the difference would be 0.8% still very acceptable.


But consider replacing with the same tire company / model to avoid degrading driving dynamics or make it less predictable.

 

[NS_Stinger]

Switching modes while driving is totally fine don't worry about it.

As far as I'm concerned as long as you replace your tires in pairs as in both the fronts or both the rears you're good. I'm not sure where this crazy online rumour started about AWD needing all tires replaced at once, probably some BS dealerships spew to people to get them to buy 4 tires every time 2 need to be replaced.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Agree, that replacing tires in pairs, same brand/tread pattern, is the way to go. Staggered does wear the rears quicker; but I think that RWD actually wears them out quicker than AWD: makes sense, since the fronts on RWD are just rolling, never digging.

Drive mode can be switched anytime as often as you like. There is nothing in the manual warning against it; if it were any potential problem, Kia would be the first to warn you.

 

[Silvermanor]

Yea agree. No and no. Just replace the tires with the same ones.

 

[UtahGT1]

Great thanks all!

Just one follow up, have a stock gt1 with stock primacy tires. Do the rear tires wear twice as fast? Would putting the AWD in Custom to Eco save tire life?

 

[Roadpig58]

Switching modes while driving is totally fine don't worry about it.

As far as I'm concerned as long as you replace your tires in pairs as in both the fronts or both the rears you're good. I'm not sure where this crazy online rumour started about AWD needing all tires replaced at once, probably some BS dealerships spew to people to get them to buy 4 tires every time 2 need to be replaced.

I can tell you guys that it’s not bs on most awd vehicles. Witnessed many transfer cases destroyed and even had one vehicle come in that caught fire just because of mis-matched brands. Tires were the same size but circumference difference by brand were enough to grenade the transfer case and set the cars on fire

 

[NS_Stinger]

I can tell you guys that it’s not bs on most awd vehicles. Witnessed many transfer cases destroyed and even had one vehicle come in that caught fire just because of mis-matched brands. Tires were the same size but circumference difference by brand were enough to grenade the transfer case and set the cars on fire

So how exactly could you trace the failure back to the tires? I dont doubt that being stupid and throwing 2 mismatched winter tires on each side along with some high grip max performance summer tires could cause issues but in the case of replacing both rears or both fronts with matched tires all around sorry I just dont believe it.

 

[Roadpig58]

So how exactly could you trace the failure back to the tires? I dont doubt that being stupid and throwing 2 mismatched winter tires on each side along with some high grip max performance summer tires could cause issues but in the case of replacing both rears or both fronts with matched tires all around sorry I just dont believe it.

they were new but two different brands the transfer case locked up Broke the case and the fluid covered one of the cats and it went on fire. By the way, it was diagnosed by a 30 year master technician, one of over thirty in the shop I ran at a major dealership. Not to mention the myriad transfer cases replaced on the customer’s
dime over three different manufacturers I was associated with during my career. Whether you believe it or not, it’s absolutely true tires have rpm data(revolutions per mile). You can mix and match sizes/widths/wheel sizes etc as long as you compare the rpm info and stay within the manufacturers tolerance specs. Let’s hope you never have to find out the hard way

 

[Roadpig58]

Also same size tires produced by different manufacturers many times have different rpm specs

 

[Roadpig58]

Think of it as running a marathon with one leg an inch shorter than the other. Hell on the hips

 

[rpoffen]

Drive modes- going from eco to sport will usually cause a down shift to get rpm closer to power band but nothing serious

Tires- you definitely want wear and grip as close as possible on the left/right. If front are wearing even, there's no reason you can't leave them until they wear out. If they're close to worn, you can sometimes get a tasty coupon or rebate for getting all 4. If your tires aren't directional, you may get a bit more even wear by rotating side to side but performance cars eat soft summer tires for breakfast even when well maintained

I was always told that once radial tires have been mounted and driven, you shouldn't rotate them (keeping on the rim so they rotate the other way). However, with the 19" setup they are different sizes front/rear so the manual actually says to rotate left/right.
You could always pay to have them unmounted and reversed on the rim to swap which side they are one, but that is more work.