Replacing Your Car Tyres? Find Out If You Should Mix Different Brands!

Car Tyre

Find Out If You Should Mix Different Brands!

For most car owners, their vehicle is like the child they never had. They will dote on it and look after it like a parent. They will spend ample time, money, and take efforts to ensure that the car is all spruced up. They take it for long spins, highway hikes, city commute and burn a lot of rubber. Are you also super finicky about your car?

Eventually, there will come a time when you will have to change one of the worn-out car tyres. You need to replace tyres on one axle, but you might wonder if it’s a good idea for the car to run on different tyre brands. It’s like wearing two different shoes, which can cause mobility issues.

If you ask us or any automotive expert, whether you should go for the ‘mix-n-match’ option, the response will be a ‘Big No’. It’s definitely not a great idea to use different brands in one set of tyres, and here’s why:

  1. The performance of your car depends on several factors, one of the most important being, the tyres it runs on. Hence all car manufacturers recommend using the same brand of car tyres for maximum output.
  2. Your car comes with its own set of exclusive features. It needs the support of apt tyres which are designed to amplify those benefits. And mixing your car’s tyres hampers your car’s ability to deliver what it's made for. Hence it is critical to use the tyre brand which best matches your car, to derive optimum performance.
  3. Mixing your car tyres can also affect your safety while driving. Tyres with different attributes affect vehicle handling. For example, tyres with two different tread depths will hold varying traction on the surface. This is unsafe as it may lead to loss of control over the vehicle while braking and cornering.
  • The tyres’ features are also a critical reason why using tyres of the same brand is more practical

    Tyres of all reputed brands, including CEAT car tyres, come with a set of features like specific load index, speed rating, and tread pattern. Now, if you use tyres of different brands that have different features, it will hamper the car’s performance over time. Read on to know more about how this happens

    Load index mismatch:

    If you mix your car tyres, you may end up with mismatched traits. For instance, one brand may be able to bear the load of the car, while the other might not, which may result in uneven wear and tear of tyres. 

  • Speed ratings are different:

    Your car tyres may not share the same speed rating. You might end up driving at a speed higher than your tyres can sustain.

  • Tread patterns

    A tyre’s tread pattern decides the amount of grip it can sustain, while braking and acceleration. The tread pattern also impacts your car’s straight-line driveability. Different tyres with different tread patterns cannot tackle different surfaces with the same effect. The mismatched tread may take a toll on some tyres which are not built for the roads you are using them on.

    It is important to note that tyres can have uneven wear also due to the misalignment of wheels. If your car has not been to the service centre for a while, try to examine the wheel alignment of your vehicle. If you think there’s a problem, get them aligned at the nearest car tyre shop or a service centre.

  • Compound and Technology

    The other factor to keep in mind while changing tyres is the compound and technology used in the construction of your chosen brand. These factors determine the longevity, mileage, and rolling resistance in a tyre. But do note that they are different for different vehicles. 

    Let's use an example of CEAT Tyres which are considered to be among the best car tyre brands. The perfect blend of soft and hard compounds blesses the tyre with long life, grip, and low rolling. The wide longitudinal grooves on CEAT tyres efficiently channel out water and avoid aquaplaning. This ensures a perfect grip and added safety even on wet roads. But when your tyres are built differently, even the best car tyre brands cannot avoid the ensuing damage.

  • How to rotate your tyres

    Tyre rotation is super easy with an identical set of car tyres, that is, if your tyres are from the same brand and share a tread pattern. You can rotate the tyres between the axles depending on the tyre’s tread pattern. Are you replacing one/two worn-out tyre/s with new ones during rotation? Make sure to stick to the tyre size recommended by the car manufacturer.

    Now if you absolutely cannot avoid the mix and match, at least try to use the same brand and the same tread-type tyres on one axle. For instance, if you are using CEAT car tyres on the front axle, then both the tyres on that axle need to have a similar tread design from CEAT. You can opt for tyres with different traits (i.e load index and speed rating). But they should meet or exceed the minimum threshold value. This value comes from the car's manufacturer.

  • How to find the right tyres for your car easily?

    Time to change the car tyres for your cars? Find the right and identical ones by simply typing in “car tyre online” in the search engine. 

    From the various results displayed on the page, you can check out the best tyre brands. 

    Then compare their specifications and features to narrow down your search. Or, find CEAT’s top car tyres on its website and check for vehicle compatibility. Shortlist the one that you think suits the best and get rolling. Alternatively, you can head to your nearest car tyre shop.

    But whatever you do, try not to use different tyre brands for your car, if you love it enough.