ok.. so my fronts are worn to hell because of my pissy attempt at a wheel alignment, no aligment at all...

the rears are fine ( i didn't touch them)

i realise it's best to have four matching, but is there a danger in sticky front tyres (say yoko a008's) and normal rears.. ( i have bridgestones)

considering i prefer the car a little tail happy, can i expect any dramas?

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The better tyres should always be on the driven wheels (ie fronts).

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The better tyres on the front and the worse tyres on the back, in themselves, will not cause you any dramas.

Especially if the car is parked - (hehehehe - couldn't help myself on that one).

The danger with significantly less grippy tyres on the rear is the tendancy for the rears to lock up under braking, with the rear of the car then overtaking the front

Pucker up & hang on!

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Too many cars, and too little time.

I'm sure Cush's beast of an 848 will have more than enough braking power on the front to lock up the rears.

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i thought i covered everything...

as always... the stickynedd with be at the front..

and the looseness will be 'round back



while i'm on it...

do the yoko's have a stiffer sidewall than the bridgestones?

if so.. how much stiffer (ie.. is it noticeable)

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re sidewall stiffness
I simply don't know the answer to that one.

I wont make a smart arse comment but something inside of me says that you really have to chuck a mini into a corner hard to notice differences. Not just spirited driving but stig type driving.

if no-one answered... that was to be my method anyway...

find a nice dusty road and see how far the scuff marks come up..

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Less grip from the treat on a dirty road... means they are gunna slide before rolling in...

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I use to think the best was to put the better tyres on the driven wheels, but if you ask any tyre shop or tyre manufacturer tese days they're response is to always put the better tyres on the rear regardless of which axle is driven.

They think that if you lose traction at the front first you can turn into the slide, regain grip and steer out, but if the back lets go first it will try to overtake the front and end in a spin.

Also Under Steer caused by worn tyres on the front will cause most drivers to drive less aggresively so as to keep better control. While in a car that steers well because of good front tyres, most drivers will drive more aggresively causing any Over Steer caused by a loss at the back to be more dramatic.

But on an 850 I guess it's all academic

Now I can relate to this as I have 539's on the front and falken on the back. My delima is that i was gonig to buy some 539's for the back and now they no longer exist =[ ..... so other than drums locking up no real damage or anything i should worry about???

What should I put on it then as a equivalent in tire to the 539's for the back? I want to put a similar compound tire if possible.

1360ls

Your car came fitted with disc brakes and had the right pressure limiter valve and the right sized rear wheel cylinders. On mini's with tyres that have legal compound and tread depth, the lack of the correct above mechanical things have more to do with rear wheel lock-ups than the tyres. At least at sensible speeds.

Yes - wet roads may be a bit of an exception but if you havn't had a scary rear wheel lock up by now then you probably won't.

We have just about all seen the video of the motorkana mini lifting its rear end waaaay up in the air with super grippy front tyres and biased brakes. No spin there.

Anyway if you do (in the short term) get rear wheel lock up then just slacken off the adjustment of the rear brakes a tad but dont tell anyone i said that [/quote]

Just be careful on wet days with grippier tyres on front rather than the back...

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

i run bridgestones 226 on the front and a008 on the back (beacuse the front arnt quite worn out yet) if you drive at the speed limit , be carefull and not be silly you probly wont notice and will never have any trouble.

but if pushed hard i find i can understeer

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1152cc turbo A-series now with 125.7hp at the wheels !

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BMC actually had a warning in the handbook about running different tyres front and rear. They said to run the better tyres on the rear.

I had a Clubman years ago (1984) and it had the you-beaut 165/70 10 Bridgestone radials all round, then Bridgestone came up with the Turbo steel belt radials so I fitted them to the front with the old type on the rear. What a mistake! I could drive it without spinning it but nobody else could, my mate took a flare off with a telegraph pole backwards.