Hello! I am new to the forum and have a question. I have an '04 DII. I am new to the DII but I did have a DI a few years ago. The Rover has been mine since June and had one previous owner. Today I took it in to have the tires rotated and balanced and found that I had a nail in one of the rear tires that was almost through the sidewall so obviously I need to get a new one. The PO had all new tires (including the spare) put on sometime last year (not sure exactly when but I know it was in 08). I know I need a new tire but the guy I was talking to told me I need to buy at least two if not all four. He said I wouldn't be able to replace just one because new treads on one tire could do damage to the four wheel drive. Is this true? If it is, could someone explain why? And any suggestions on how I should proceed because I think buying all new tires isn't really necessary since the other three are still in good condition. Thanks!

 

why can't you put the spare on?

 

The spare is a brand new tire and I was told it one new tire alone is a what would cause the problems with the four wheel drive. I'm not sure why.

 

I would just put the spare on and buy another spare. I really would not worry about putting the spare into rotation. Also you can try to get someone to repair the punctured tire (maybe try some slime?) and use it for the spare and not rotate it. I know for all wheel drive cars you want the tires to be perfectly balanced but I'm not sure of that is the case for full time 4 wheel drive trucks like ours.

 

Thanks for the replies! I thought I would be ok with the spare and will change that out tomorrow but I was at a loss for why I would be told it could effect the four wheel drive.

 

You can google around for the explanation but just IMO (take it FWIW) our trucks have very beefy center diffs and differentials and an long as your other tires like you say are in good shape then I would not worry. Just keep an aggressive rotation schedule.

 

These trucks have 3 differentials so that little stuff like minor differences in tread depth doesn't hurt anything. The guy at the tire shop was just trying to sell a set of tires.

 

When I started looking at it myself tonight I realized the spare is a Goodyear tire and the 4 on the truck are Yokohama. All (including the spare) are 255/55R18. Will the different tread pattern on the spare cause a problem when put on the truck with the other three? Or will it be the similar as tread depth and not cause any major issues because of the differentials?

 

My spare was an older tire that I kept when I bought new tires but could not afford a 5th tire. I had an issue with one of my tires and had to drive with the spare for quite a while and I never even noticed a difference it was a different brand and the others were snow tires. I have since purchased 2 new tires (still a bit broke) and put the odd tire back as the spare. Like I said if you are strapped you can definitely get away with it as these trucks are built pretty tough.

 

That is good to know! Thanks for the response. I understand being broke and that is the reason I don't want to have to replace tires that don't need it!