Replacing 1 tire/Tread Depth. Lets fight.

[JohnnyUtah]

I'm not a mechanic, just a guy that likes to critically think. Tell me where my thinking is incorrect.

If you damage a tire on the trail, can you replace just the damaged tire?

My contention is yes, as long as your vehicle isn't fulltime 4wd or AWD.
The wheels spin independently unless you have the diff locked. Since they spin independently, there is ZERO more stress on the diff than if you were driving on a curvy road. There is zero more stress than if one of your tires was running 5 lbs less than another. Running 3 tires at 9/32nds and 1 tire at 16/32nds wouldn't make a damn bit of difference or damage in my mind.

Tell me why I'm wrong. Not what the tire salesman says, but how exactly running the 2 different tread depths of the same tire causes damage to the drive train with an open diff. And before we start talking about running it in 4wd, remember we shouldn't be running in 4wd until the surface conditions are loose or slick, once again, creating a condition where the diff wouldn't bind.

I'm really asking this question to learn. Tell me the why, not the recommendation of the tire place.

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[BamaJeepTruck]

Because it will create alignment/pull situations. Just think, one side has a different number of revolutions for the same distance traveled. It wouldn't be drastic but I have seen customers vehicles where this has happened creating a pull to the side of the older tire that requires constant input. Also depending on the tire you could see a traction issue. Example, not all tires are created equal and some don't have the same siping throughout the whole tread depth and would have a different amount of grip in wet weather causing the newer tire to pull the car in the direction that has the better grip. Tires are a fickle beast. My life has been them for the last decade.

Is it going to break your truck, no. Avoiding catastrophe shouldn't be your only goal tho. The truck will be better off on matching tires. At least replace them in pairs, and the new ALWAYS go on the front axle.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

This has been hashed to death in a dozen "spare tire" threads.
Bottom line - if you have a limited slip differential you want matched tires as much as possible.
Do some math on tire diameters and you'll find that generally speaking a few 32nds of an inch won't make a revolution difference in half a mile. In fact, turns and curves in the road matter more.
Lockers - yeah, match 'em as much as possible, but again, MATH - try it - will tell you exactly the difference in revolutions per mile on the highway.

Even limited slip won't care about 1/4" difference in tire diameter. How often do you drive a perfectly straight line - like a bowling alley lane, for 10 miles? (OK, maybe in flat, straight, boring Nebraska....)

Fronts - could cause a pull effect if much different but it won't impact the differential, won't wear it. Crowned roads often cause a pull, too. But that's the only real impact on the front of a vehicle that doesn't have a front locking differential. Wear? No, not to the differential.

Tire salesmen aren't trained in much of anything but reading literature and listening to BS about tires.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Because it will create alignment/pull situations. Just think, one side has a different number of revolutions for the same distance traveled. It wouldn't be drastic but I have seen customers vehicles where this has happened creating a pull to the side of the older tire that requires constant input. Also depending on the tire you could see a traction issue. Example, not all tires are created equal and some don't have the same siping throughout the whole tread depth and would have a different amount of grip in wet weather causing the newer tire to pull the car in the direction that has the better grip. Tires are a fickle beast. My life has been them for the last decade.

Is it going to break your truck, no. Avoiding catastrophe shouldn't be your only goal tho. The truck will be better off on matching tires. At least replace them in pairs, and the new ALWAYS go on the front axle.

In short, what you are correctly saying is - it depends.
If there's a minor difference, maybe nothing. If one is pretty new and the other worn over half way, I could see a pull on the front - maybe. A lot there would depend on tire size and width. A wider tire will see a greater difference if one is worn much more than the other.

But you won't wear out a standard or even limited slip differential.

 

[BamaJeepTruck]

In fact, turns and curves in the road matter more.

However a pull is only noticeable going straight.

 

[BamaJeepTruck]

In short, what you are correctly saying is - it depends.
If there's a minor difference, maybe nothing. If one is pretty new and the other worn over half way, I could see a pull on the front - maybe. A lot there would depend on tire size and width. A wider tire will see a greater difference if one is worn much more than the other.

But you won't wear out a standard or even limited slip differential.

You are 100% correct sir. The biggest offenders I have seen are Jeep/LT style tires that new have very deep treads to start. On a Mud Terrain style tire you may have 14/32nds new, yet is serviceable down to 4/32. The bigger the variation the bigger the issue, and there's a lot of room for variation with deep tread applications.

 

[u-joint]

All of this raises an interesting question... is anybody doing 5 tire rotations on the JT?

Just seems natural (considering all the above), but with the dinky spare rim I'm not going to myself. Thinking of maybe purchasing a regular rim and swaping that onto the spare, and then I could do a 5 tire rotation.

 

[BamaJeepTruck]

All of this raises an interesting question... is anybody doing 5 tire rotations on the JT?

Just seems natural (considering all the above), but with the dinky spare rim I'm not going to myself. Thinking of maybe purchasing a regular rim and swaping that onto the spare, and then I could do a 5 tire rotation.

The raising and lowering I would wager would make this questionable. When I was behind the counter we wouldn't charge Wranglers anything extra as its right there, just zip it off, but on JT I would upcharge labor as its going to take several minutes more to do than a standard rotation.

 

[JohnnyUtah]

All of this raises an interesting question... is anybody doing 5 tire rotations on the JT?

Just seems natural (considering all the above), but with the dinky spare rim I'm not going to myself. Thinking of maybe purchasing a regular rim and swaping that onto the spare, and then I could do a 5 tire rotation.

This is what brought up the question. I'm not doing 5 tires, never have, not even on a wrangler. Over the life of the vehicle, (say 175-200k miles) I see no benefit in 5. you rotate 5, you replace 5. I've had no issue throwing my spare on when needed and either using it or getting a replacement for a damaged tire without replacing all 4 tires.

 

[BamaJeepTruck]

This is what brought up the question. I'm not doing 5 tires, never have, not even on a wrangler. Over the life of the vehicle, (say 175-200k miles) I see no benefit in 5. you rotate 5, you replace 5. I've had no issue throwing my spare on when needed and either using it or getting a replacement for a damaged tire without replacing all 4 tires.

Well I don't either, but it does give piece of mind of knowing your spare is maintained and serviceable. If you still have the original spare and have 200k on the vehicle its definitely dry rotted, and probably flat.

 

[AmishMike]

This is why I only purchased 4, 35" tires not 5. My spare is a brand new 33" which will get me home or somewhere safe. It is close enough to the same as my 35's and gets closer everyday.
Is it perfect? nope. Does it work for me, yup. I know the variables and the pros/cons.

 

[be77solo]

You are 100% correct sir. The biggest offenders I have seen are Jeep/LT style tires that new have very deep treads to start. On a Mud Terrain style tire you may have 14/32nds new, yet is serviceable down to 4/32. The bigger the variation the bigger the issue, and there's a lot of room for variation with deep tread applications.

You are making me cringe hard at the thought of someone replacing one new M/T when the other three are close to 4/32's haha

 

[BamaJeepTruck]

You are making me cringe hard at the thought of someone replacing one new M/T when the other three are close to 4/32's haha

You'd be amazed when dealing with cars what end users will request, and with the quality of most "salespeople" these days they get exactly what they request. No shit I had a minivan come in with a tires that was Zip tied together where the tread was separating and the person had someone else put a tube in the tire and refused to replace it.

 

[Renegade]

This is all wrong. If you damage a tire beyond repair on a trail, you must increase the size of all tires by at least 5% to prevent such damage from occurring again. This is the way.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

However a pull is only noticeable going straight.

Yes, and if the road is crowned it may hide that pull, or increase it. (depending on direction of the pull)
Only a flat straight road with little to no crown will tell you if the pull is vehicle or the road.

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