Mixing tire brands

[biggersm]

BLUF - What happens when you mix a Metzler 880 rear tire with an Elite or a Venom front tire?

We have an essentially new Metzler 880 on the rear; maybe 5 months and 2,000 miles (wish it was more miles but it was a tough winter, even in Florida). We have an older Metzler 880 on the front; maybe 20K miles on a tire manufactured in 2006 with about 3/32" (maybe sleightly more tread but still not much time left). I've always felt the Metzlers were a little slippery and I've been curious about how "sticky" Elites, Venoms, etc. We really don't want to be in a situation where we are in the middle of going to New York and have to change the front tire.

The rear tire is still round on the bottom, a sure sign of a newer Metzler! We really don't want to buy another Metzler front tire! What to do?

[Me Again]

BLUF - What happens when you mix an old rear tire with a new front tire?

The biggest problem that you will run into is that both tires (new and old ) will continue to wear.
You may notice a difference in the way the bike handles from an old worn out tire to a new tire but your going to notice that even if you don't change brands.

[Nathan (South Carolina)]

You probably wouldn't notice any difference mixing tire brands. The tires that can't be mixed are bias ply with a radial ply. I mixed a Venom rear tire with the original Dunop front tire until the front tire wore enough to replace. I never noticed any difference in ride quality. I have used Venom X's ever since. These are long lasting tires. I replace each tire every 2 years because I average between 25,000 to 28,000 miles a tire.

[David (N. Alabama)]

When I bought my bike it had mixed tires on it. I did not like the ride and bought a set of ME880s based on opinions on this forum. It was like night and day. I am now running Dunlop Elite 3 tires. I tend to wear out the front and rear tires at the same time on all my bikes.

Anyway, most opinions I have read concluded that as long as the tread patterns were similar, and load ratings were within spec, and diameter of the new tire was the same, you should not notice any difference.

If all your riding is interstate it probably won't matter one way or the other.

I prefer to change out all my tires at the same time. I do it on cars and bikes, but like I said I tend to wear them all out evenly.

[biggersm]

Thank you for the advise. We will probably buy either a Venom X or an Elite III front tire before we go to New York (I hope we can find the time and money to go) and will worry about changing the Metzler 880 rear tire later on this year. Real world stories certainly reinforce my confidence.