c3002008

I was wondering if its fine to use different brand tires for the front and I will make sure the specs match (all season, W rated). Also what is the difference between W and Z rated tires?

black lavender

Brand doesn't matter, just make sure your sizes are correct.

For your other question, read this
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=35

jbt56

Yes, as long as you're doing pairs of tires, brands don't matter much. The W and Z designations refer to the tires' speed ratings- the max speeds they're safe for. Never install tires that have a rating LESS than the original tires. Any good tire shop will refuse to do this, for liability reasons.

Remember, too, that your tires are what connects your car to the road, and make the biggest difference in handling, comfort and road noise on your car. You don't necessarily need to spend a fortune for names like Michelin (who make great tires), but buy the best you can afford based on ratings, reviews, etc. My C250 has Yokohamas on it, and the last set on my 2011 Mustang GT were Sumitomos.

Dynotrick

your handling might get a bit weird though... i had the oem contiprocontact tires and then replaced only the rears with the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06. I figured i could get another 5k or more out of the fronts... well the car handled like **** so i replaced the fronts under 1k miles later and the difference was huge.

side note the ExtremeContact DWS 06 are fantastic tires for our cars, i'm very happy with them.

Alfadude

I would think the difference in handling was more a function of having new tires on the back and very worn tires on the front more so than the difference in different tires models within the same brand or different brands between the front and rear. Now if you had high performance summer tires on one end and all season tires on the other, that's a different story.

Dynotrick

You're right, that was probably the biggest factor. I guess my point is you may not be happy with the performance if the tires are very different.

TheRulesLawyer

As long as you stay in the same class of tire you'll probably be fine. (If you have extreme performance all season on there, stick with that for example)