My wife hit the curb while going about 30 mph with the front passenger side tire. There now is a bulg on the sidewall of the tire. Im guessing I need to replace it My question is, the current tires have 33k miles, should I get a new Michelin to replace the one tire, or find a something else with less life to stay on par with the other tires? Will having a new tire on the car effect the drive or handle?

Strebal

 

is stuff like this covered under warranty?

btw, you should helicopter kick your wife for this.

 

^ +1 on the Helicopter Kick.

Get new tires all around.

 

The general rule is to buy tires in pairs (either both fronts or both rears), or to buy a full set of tires. Also, if you're just replacing the rears, some would suggest moving the front tires to the rear so that the new tires go up front to provide better traction.

Buying one tire, I believe, will affect the other 3 tires. It's like a chair, with the 4th leg slightly taller than the other 3....

The stock tires are Michelin's (unless you've bought other tires already). Depending on how you drive, you might want to look into performance tires so you can have some fun while driving ;-)

And yes, the bulge hints that the tire needs to be replaced. Normally anything that happens to the sidewall should be taken seriously.

 

 

Actually, the tires with more traction should be put on the REAR (even on a FWD vehicle).

If you have less traction in the rear you will always be in a state of oversteer, which is much more dangerous than understeer (as oversteer = spinning out).

Even with snow tires, if you can only get 2 snow tires, and have 2 all-season tires, put the snows in the REAR and the all-seasons on the FRONT. Sure, traction from a standstill will suffer, BUT, at least you'll be able to turn safely.

 

Thanks for the feedback. The cheapest I can find is $194 per tire installed. I really dont want to purchase two tires but it seems to be the prudent thing to do.


Should I keep the good tire just incase for the future?

 

You should actually always go with four snow tires to keep your car from spinning around the good set of tires, but if you can only afford two tires (no reason anyone should only by two) I don't buy putting two snow tires on the rear of a front wheel drive car. Up here in the mountains, that tread difference will leave you stranded at the bottom of a hill, period. Your statement may be a regional statement depending on where you live...

 

I don't know about you, but I'd much rather be stuck (stopped) because of lack of drive-wheel traction, than sliding off of a cliff or into the path of a truck because I can't steer worth a damn.

Have you ever been in an oversteer condition? Its scary if you can't do a thing about it.

And yes I agree - 4 snows is ALWAYS the best bet.