I blew one Michelin Arctic Alpin on a pothole the other day, and I was going to just buy a new Alpin and put it on but the guy at the tire place where I was going to put it on told me that I couldn't buy a new alpin and use it with the 3 old tires. He said I needed to find a used alpin because the differing tread sizes would screw up my all wheel drive system. I don't think I can afford 4 new tires right now but I am running on a donut spare. I have 215 45 17 on the car now.

Thanks for your help.

 

Ask around to see if you can find a place that will shave the new tire to match the old ones.

 

Jumping on with another question for Luke. When I purchased my STi last August, I had some qualms about the Bridgestone RE07s that came on it, being that it rains/ponds/floods where I live coupled with my wife also driving the car. I replaced them with a more all-around tire, the Yokohama AVS ES100. These tires are great for all-around use-rain or shine. They were also quite quieter than the RE07s. My car is now at 13000 miles and the tires rotated 'bout half way through. All four tires are now cupping on the insides and oh BTW no suspension modifications on my car whatsoever. Recently brought car to dealer to check alignment...it was slightly off, but nothing that would cause that type of wear as stated by technician. They are now pointing at tire-balancing when I replaced the RE07s. The ones who mounted the tires is a very reputable shop here in Hawaii. I've known and dealt with this shop for many years and don't like the fact that I have to approach them with what the dealer stated. Bottom line is that I now have to replace all four tires if I want to get rid of all that tire drone. Any help on this matter from anyone is greatly appreciated.

 

Never thought of that. Thanks for the input!

 

those tires are prone to cupping since the tread blocks are so large .... the only way to avoid it is a really neatral alignment which will kill the handling or a different tire all together

 

Mahalo (thanks) for the info. So the RE07 would be more resistant to cupping due to the design of the tread? The shop that mounted them (Eurosport) deals with the Tire Rack...any suggestion as far as ultra high performance tires is concerned? How are the RE750s?

 

I have an 02 WRX, I'm running more negative camber and a little less caster than a stock STI. I went with 225/45/17 so3's and I haven't had any cupping problems but they do get pretty loud after you put some miles on them. They are great on both wet and dry surfaces and should provide you with much more grip than the Yoko's did.

 

Hey Luke can you guys shave a new tire down if I ordered one from you?