Hi Everyone. Been reading through the forums and trying to decide on tires for my TL. Front tires are still OK (tread-wise), but back tires need to be replaced.

I wanted to put some Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus tires on the back, and wanted to get the 245/45/17 size (slightly wider than what the car comes with which is 235/45/17).

My question is, can I put the slightly wider tires on the back and leave the front as is...e.g. have two different size tires?

TurboNut, if you're out there, I need your help! I read lots of your threads and you know everything, so...

And anyone else who can help is certainly greatly appreciated. And as the thread name says, it's a 2005 Acura TL.

Any other suggestions are appreciated too...like if I should really be getting 4 new tires, or even tire suggestions. New to all this.

Thanks Guys.

 

You could certainly do that if you eventually replace the fronts with the same size tire and model later. I have A/S Plus tires now and they wear much faster than advertised and I'm not buying them again. They were great the first 15k miles and now they're just average. I got about 25k miles on a 45k tire- I was hoping for at least 30k miles.

I'll either get Nitto Motivo, Continental DWS, or possibly the General G-Max instead. You could almost buy 4 of these tires for the price of 3 Michelin A/S Plus tires and have a matched set.

Good luck in what you find and do. Discount Tire is a pretty decent place to go.

 

Thanks LaCostaRacer! I had read (other threads) the Michelin do pretty well with mileage, so strange to hear you say that. But thanks for the input. And yes, I am torn between 4 new tires or just 2 on the rear...the front are in decent shape. I go back and forth everyday. Soon I'll just have to make the decision and go with it, the back are close to bald and unsafe.

If anyone else has any ideas or suggestions, I'm all ears!

 

^you'll have to be more diligent with tire rotations.
the point of them is to have all 4 tires wearing at the same time.
the rears must have been on the front, and you recently switched them to the back.

Unless you have camber wear on the rears. which indicates a alignment issue

 

Thanks. The car was given to me by a family member actually. But yes, the rears used to be on the front.

Any other suggestions for tires...names/type etc? And should I put just 2 on the rear or get all 4. Using this forum as my guide

 

^how good are the front two?

if you can swing all 4, i would do so.
if you cant, then just replace the rear.

continental DWS(DryWetSnow) is a good all season.
Continental DW is another good tire.

 

How do I tell how good the front 2 are? They look OK to me but I'm sure there's a good way to check. I can check right now if you explain how

 

^read this
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=51

 

Thanks. The front tires are just fine based on doing some coin tests.

The Continental ExtremeContact DWS do seem like good tires...just checked them out on tirerack.com. Any recommendations for where to buy in terms of cheapest price etc? Online, or local tire dealer? I live in the northeast USA btw, if that makes any difference.

 

Oh, this may be a really really stupid question, but should I get the new tires (think I'm going with only purchasing two new tires) put on the rear of the car, or the front of the car?

the front two tires on there right now are in fairly good condition with fairly good tread on there. And it's a 2005 Acura TL with front wheel drive. Thanks again all you people who know what you're talking about out there!

 

Looks like you HAVE to get new tires in the rear now, the tire companies wont even let you put them in the front. At least that's what I read, wonder why

 

a lot of shops like to recommend replacing rears first if you have to choose, because most people (maybe even myself) cant handle oversteer should the tail slip out. Understeer is more manageable.

full disclosure, i've never tracked or pushed my car to the limit, and that probably applies to 80% of the drivers out there.

 

The rears will be taller than the fronts. That's a no go for the ABS and VSA system.

 

Owner's Manual (2004), pg 224:

"Using tires of a different size or construction can cause the anti-lock brake and the vehicle stability assist systems to work inconsistently."

 

Agreed. I wish that the US made people go through real driver training when getting your license. Once you realize how easy it is to slide around, you'll be addicted to it. I had to take some engineers out to the field the other day so we used a company truck. I drove it as I always drive it, sideways through the slippery dirt, not really thinking about it because I'm so used to it. Their reaction made me realize maybe it's not normal.

 

The difference between a 235 and 245 won't cause the ABS to energize, at least in my opinion, as if one had 235's all around, the difference between a worn 235 and new 235 is 5/8"(.625") difference, more than a 235 compared to a 245 (.30") depending on the manufacturer. I personally don't know what difference would be needed to energize the ABS , but don't forget that the little spare is about 1/2" smaller than the regular tire and the ABS doesn't energize when it is installed, at least not on my TL.

 

I've never had the ABS falsely go off from different tire sizes but supposedly stopping distances can be increased. Never tried that theory out. There's going to be a much larger difference in wheel speed between the inside and outside wheel during a corner than there could ever be from a difference in tire diameter. I would honestly be more afraid of the VSA doing weird stuff than the ABS. VSA is usually more sensitive to wheel speed changes. I'm not worried about ABS or VSA triggering when it shouldn't, just the effectiveness when in use. I already hate how the TL's ABS is so intrusive.

 

Hmm...will the tire dealerships even install the different size tires on the rear or give me problems because the size doesnt match exactly? Like will they say they cant do it and site the ABS and VSA potential issues?

 

:hmm: Mine too ... but I got 30k miles. Since I got a really nice credit against warranty, I did get another set.

Also, when new, I beat the living crap out of the first set (tracked with them .... ), so I'm not surprised they didn't last.


Rear larger than fronts? People do all the time - staggard - for looks. OP, you'll be fine.

 

Rears wider than fronts is fine as long as the diameter is close. It's only for looks, for performance on our cars all 4 should be the same size. IMO 255s all around look very nice.