Tom_H
Veteran Member
The wife drives a '95 Plymouth Grand Voyager AWD. The guy who sold it to me in '98 claimed the salvaged title was due to previous theft and reposession. It did seem to be in good shape. I later found it had been in an accident.
We used to go up to the Sierra every year to spend some time in the snow, so I got 2 sets of rims, one with Michelin P205/70 R15 95S M&S all season treads (steel radials) to run in the CA Central Valley most of the year and one with Wintermark P205/70 R15 95S M&S snow treads (steel radials) to quick change when we wanted to go up the hill (i.e. into the Sierra). (I know M&S = mud & snow, but still the 2 sets have very different tread patterns.) I got all 8 at America's Tire Company, who said they'd swap the 2 sets and do rotations, all for free, anytime needed.
We ran the all seasons most of the time and the snows for just a few days a year for 7 years. About a year ago, one all season had worn down, one still had some tread, and 2 were about half tread (I didn't rotate often enough-just a time factor). Having the snow tires sitting in the garage with over 99% of tread remaining, knowing that the polymers would begin breaking down with age, and not wanting to spend $ unnecessarily, I decided that rather than buying new all seasons, I'd just run the snow tires for 3 or so years, use up some of the tread, then put them back into storage and buy new all seasons at that time. I know the snows get less mpg., but that's just a tradeoff.
In the year past, the rears show virtually no wear. The front left shows some wear, but the right front is worn to no tread on the outside edge (2.5"), but not so bad elsewhere. It seems to be properly inflated, and there is no pull to one side or the other, so I'm not sure about an alignment problem.
Anyway, I went to America's Tire Co. Thursday and asked to have the 2 best snows moved from rear to front and the 2 better all seasons put on the back. They told me that on an AWD, all 4 tires had to be completely identical or that the transfer box would wear out pretty soon. The only differences I can tell are the tread type and a small diameter difference due to wear. The guy seemed to be indicating that the tread type was the problem, moreso than the the small dia. difference. Anyway, he said company policy prevented him from doing it and he strongly advised against doing it myself.
Advice about the outer edge wear is fine, but what I really want to ask about is the transfer box. I understand the basic principles of torque buildup and the necessity that it be released on a full time 4WD or when a part time 4WD is engaged. Our drive is 450 ft. of gravel and that would give some degree of opportunity for release of torque buildup (assuming it is happening), except when we go on out of town trips. The fact that the AWD engages as needed, however, and these minor tire differences puzzle me. For those of you with a lot of experience, would you agree with the tire technician? Is it the tread, the small dia. difference, or would you disagree with him?
Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for your advice.
We used to go up to the Sierra every year to spend some time in the snow, so I got 2 sets of rims, one with Michelin P205/70 R15 95S M&S all season treads (steel radials) to run in the CA Central Valley most of the year and one with Wintermark P205/70 R15 95S M&S snow treads (steel radials) to quick change when we wanted to go up the hill (i.e. into the Sierra). (I know M&S = mud & snow, but still the 2 sets have very different tread patterns.) I got all 8 at America's Tire Company, who said they'd swap the 2 sets and do rotations, all for free, anytime needed.
We ran the all seasons most of the time and the snows for just a few days a year for 7 years. About a year ago, one all season had worn down, one still had some tread, and 2 were about half tread (I didn't rotate often enough-just a time factor). Having the snow tires sitting in the garage with over 99% of tread remaining, knowing that the polymers would begin breaking down with age, and not wanting to spend $ unnecessarily, I decided that rather than buying new all seasons, I'd just run the snow tires for 3 or so years, use up some of the tread, then put them back into storage and buy new all seasons at that time. I know the snows get less mpg., but that's just a tradeoff.
In the year past, the rears show virtually no wear. The front left shows some wear, but the right front is worn to no tread on the outside edge (2.5"), but not so bad elsewhere. It seems to be properly inflated, and there is no pull to one side or the other, so I'm not sure about an alignment problem.
Anyway, I went to America's Tire Co. Thursday and asked to have the 2 best snows moved from rear to front and the 2 better all seasons put on the back. They told me that on an AWD, all 4 tires had to be completely identical or that the transfer box would wear out pretty soon. The only differences I can tell are the tread type and a small diameter difference due to wear. The guy seemed to be indicating that the tread type was the problem, moreso than the the small dia. difference. Anyway, he said company policy prevented him from doing it and he strongly advised against doing it myself.
Advice about the outer edge wear is fine, but what I really want to ask about is the transfer box. I understand the basic principles of torque buildup and the necessity that it be released on a full time 4WD or when a part time 4WD is engaged. Our drive is 450 ft. of gravel and that would give some degree of opportunity for release of torque buildup (assuming it is happening), except when we go on out of town trips. The fact that the AWD engages as needed, however, and these minor tire differences puzzle me. For those of you with a lot of experience, would you agree with the tire technician? Is it the tread, the small dia. difference, or would you disagree with him?
Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for your advice.
