You should have the same size tires all the way around just for the sake of
having things equal and being able to rotate your tires without screwing up
your speedometer.

There is no damage that will occur if having mifmatched tires though.

And more road contact doesn't mean better performance. You still have the
same amount of weight on the tire whether it is a small contact patch or a
large contact patch. The pounds per square inch actually decrease as the
tire patch gets bigger, but the total force on the road is still the same.


"Rob B" <bertbarndoor@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:e29ccc85.0504160631.5f2e785c@posting.google.c om...
>I bought this car from a guy last year and am thinking of buying some
> new tires as the wear appears to be uneven and now the car pulls to
> one side.
>
> I noticed (probably should have noted this earlier, but I was having
> too much fun driving it) that there were standard P205/50R16 on the
> front, but P215/50/R16 on the back. A tire store guy told me that FWD
> cars should be same size matched all the way around.
>
> Question: Is the tire guy right, should I have the same all the way
> around? Also, what advantage would 215s give me, just a wider
> tire/more road contact? Then should I think about 215/45/R16 to keep
> the same relative aspect ratio? I'm leaning towards P205s all the way
> around. Any brand/type recommendations while you're at it?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rob