Can I replace one tire?

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Old 04-21-2008, 04:28 PM
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Unhappy Can I replace one tire?

I have a 2006 with 30K miles on it and just picked up 3 nails in the same tire - saw one and when I took the tire off to be repaired, found two more. One is in the in the sidewall so it's not repairable.

My question is, can I get away with replacing only one tire? The two shops I've talked to say I may damage the AWD if I don't change all 4 (or if the diameter isn't within 2/32). I remember this from a 1999 Volvo AWD I owned.

The dealer service rep I talked to was non-commital so I wanted to see if anyone here knows. I'd really prefer just one as the tires don't have any issues (other than the nails!) and one tire is $300 mounted!

Thanks for your help.
Old 04-21-2008, 04:56 PM
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The manual is your friend.

2006 manual, page 386:
It is best to replace all four tires at the same time. If that is not possible or necessary, replace the two front tires or the two rear tires as a pair. Replacing just one tire can seriously affect your vehicle's handling.
(my bolding)

With 30k miles on your tires, it's probably best to replace a pair and put those on the front. After all, even with SH-AWD, our cars are nominally FWD as most torque is sent to the front wheels.

If your tires were brand new, you could get away with only switching out one unless you've been trying to do the Tokyo drift in your RL.

HTH!
Old 04-21-2008, 05:47 PM
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Red face

Originally Posted by cs9530
I have a 2006 with 30K miles on it and just picked up 3 nails in the same tire - saw one and when I took the tire off to be repaired, found two more. One is in the in the sidewall so it's not repairable.

My question is, can I get away with replacing only one tire? The two shops I've talked to say I may damage the AWD if I don't change all 4 (or if the diameter isn't within 2/32). I remember this from a 1999 Volvo AWD I owned.

The dealer service rep I talked to was non-commital so I wanted to see if anyone here knows. I'd really prefer just one as the tires don't have any issues (other than the nails!) and one tire is $300 mounted!

Thanks for your help.
I may be the help you neeed. I also got a nail in one of my RLs tires.
I replaced 2 tires and have one good one for sale..

The tire has 25000 miles on it. No Plugs/patches

Call me on my Cell
; 410-302-2339

see my add on Craigs list:

Used Michelin 245/50R17


Shipping will be $35
Old 04-21-2008, 08:56 PM
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Buy 2 if you can afford it. Don't risk spending more on trans/diff repair than saving on tire.
Old 04-21-2008, 10:23 PM
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I agree you should replace in pairs. I would also suggest you may wish to relook at putting new tires on the front. Usually, they recommend the newest tires go on the back, the reason being it is more dangerous to loose the rear end than the front end. Because you are steering the car with the fronts, you will feel them loosing it a lot faster than the rears. When the rears loose grip, even on a front wheel drive car, it can be pretty dramatic.

I will see if I can get the reference on this practice. Maybe things have changed in 20 years.
Old 04-22-2008, 10:29 AM
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Chas, you are right.

There is some debate on where to put your newer tires on and I was taught that the fronts should have the best rubber. However, at the Tire Rack...they say the opposite is true.

Whole article is here....

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=52

Intuition suggests that since the front tires wore out first and because there is still about half-tread remaining on the rear tires, the new tires should be installed on the front axle. This will provide more traction, and by the time the front tires have worn out for the second time, the rear tires will be worn out too. However in this case, intuition isn't right...and following it can be downright dangerous.

When tires are replaced in pairs in situations like these, the new tires should always be installed on the rear axle and the worn tires moved to the front. The reason is because new tires on the rear axle help the driver more easily maintain control on wet roads because new, deeper treaded tires are more capable of resisting hydroplaning.

...

If the rear tires have more tread depth than the front tires, the front tires will begin to hydroplane and lose traction on wet roads before the rears. This will cause the vehicle to begin to understeer (the vehicle wants to continue driving straight ahead). Understeer is relatively easy to control because releasing the gas pedal will slow the vehicle and help the driver maintain control.

However, if the front tires have more tread depth than the rear tires, the rear tires will begin to hydroplane and lose traction on wet roads before the fronts. This will cause the vehicle to begin to oversteer in which the vehicle wants to spin. Oversteer is far more difficult to control, and in addition to the initial distress felt when the rear of the car starts sliding, quickly releasing the gas pedal in an attempt to slow down may actually make it more difficult for the driver to regain control, possibly causing a complete spinout.
So my years of "learning" are wrong. Sorry!
Old 04-22-2008, 10:33 AM
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The Owners Manual for my 06 also directs that new tires go on the rear.
Old 04-22-2008, 01:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Chas2
I agree you should replace in pairs. I would also suggest you may wish to relook at putting new tires on the front. Usually, they recommend the newest tires go on the back, the reason being it is more dangerous to loose the rear end than the front end. Because you are steering the car with the fronts, you will feel them loosing it a lot faster than the rears. When the rears loose grip, even on a front wheel drive car, it can be pretty dramatic.

I will see if I can get the reference on this practice. Maybe things have changed in 20 years.
I cannot find the article I was looking for in one of the car mags, R&T, C&D, etc., but here is a substantially similar article. Look toward the bottom to read about Tire Placement.

http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/pw/laurens.htm

I know there is also some NHTSA or similar reg on it, but I could not find that either.
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