Which axle for an odd tyre?

[John97Tdi]

Due to a bad puncture and the situation with Russia it looks like I will need to buy a 'spare' of another brand of tyres than the set of 6 Nokian seasonproof (4 on my '06 D5 XC70 and a spare 'axle' pair) I've been running for the last year or so.

Obviously I want an all season tyre that matches the characteristics of the tyres I have but if there is any slight difference in performance, which is the best axle on an XC on which to have the 'odd' one?

Cheers

John

[JoeNinety]

I would put it on the rear axle, to avoid a secondary impact on the steering as well. (This is what I would do on a Range Rover). Might be better to put a pair on the rear. Make certain the tyres are the same size as existing

Note, you will have two odd tyres on the rear axle

[John97Tdi]

Originally Posted by JoeNinety

I would put it on the rear axle, to avoid a secondary impact on the steering as well. (This is what I would do on a Range Rover). Might be better to put a pair on the rear. Make certain the tyres are the same size as existing

Note, you will have two odd tyres on the rear axle

Thanks for the reply - although I'm not certain I understood it!

Ordinarily, for the winter months I'd put the best pair of tyres of the six on the rear to give the best possible traction in bad conditions, and the next best pair on the front because you can effect at least some control over that axle with driver input. I've still got one unused Nokian so I'm inclined to buy an equivalent tyre and put them on the back in the hope that any difference in performance will be negligible - but still wonder if by putting an unmatched pair on the front, any differences could be more easily compensated for with appropriate braking/acceleration/steering input

Nokians are still being advertised but at about twice the price they were and only by companies such as Delticom and their many, allegedly 'UK' subsidiaries - who sometimes advertise tyres not in stock and whose delivery times to the UK have become comically optimistic.

John

[Harrydog01]

I got a set of nokian winter tires from my local dealer at a very reasonable price, worth a call?

[Wagon Sailor]

I'd put the odds on the back. The fronts do significantly more than half the work under braking and nearly all the work when steering. And when you do both together, you want the best possible control.
(This is true for fwd, rwd and 4wd.)

[John97Tdi]

Originally Posted by Harrydog01

I got a set of nokian winter tires from my local dealer at a very reasonable price, worth a call?

When I've enquired locally before about Nokians I've been met with either a blank stare or an indrawing of breath so I've got them online previously. The last ones I got were from Camskill. However they now seem to have disappeared from all 'real' UK stockists websites, due, no doubt, to the tyre plants they had in Russia, which produced most of their passenger car tyres, closing due to the war.

John

[Georgeandkira]

I've "always heard" that you want the fronts to match.
Even performance during a panic stop carries the argument.

NOTE: Here (No. America) you'll hear that the back ends of pickup trucks are so light you want your deepest treaded tires on the back axle for stability.

[myfirstv70]

Odd pair on the back, I'd always put the tyre with more tread next to the nearside/ pavement side (that's the sidewalk George!) as that's where the puddles tend to collect due to the camber of the road....

[John97Tdi]

OK, on the back it goes. I'll probably get a Hankook Kinergy 4S2 which is a mid priced all season tyre with good reviews - and seems to be available everywhere! Slightly annoyingly it was a toss up between the Nokians and the Hankooks when I changed the set of tyres - at the time the Hankooks were slightly cheaper but I went with the Nokians because I'd used their 'weatherproof' tyres before.

Thanks for the replies.

John