I have a set of Infinity INF 05 205/50zr17 tires on my front wheel drive 2004 mazda 3. the tires are 4 months old and i blew one and it is unrepairable.
Long story short i am unable to buy that exact tire any longer. Could i get away with a Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110 205/50zr17? or would the best decision be to replace all four?
Me, I’d do that, and put the non-matching tires on the rear.
the tire in question is a directional summer tire with a very distinct/unique tred design…the hankook varies slightly. woulod this be an issue?
Possibly. You could do as I described, then test drive it carefully, and extensively, and decide if any bad handling traits have been introduced. How many miles on the Infinity tires?
3500 tops,
Where do you live? Snow country?
I would want to have two matched tyres on the front and two matched tyres on the back.
I would suggest buying two new tyres to go on the back and use two best used tyres on the front. Yea that dose not sound right but it is right. With the best tyres on the front, in an emergency stop the back tyres with less grip can not keep the back of the car in the back so the back end looses grip and you end up looking where you were and not where you are going, that takes away your ability to control where your car is going.
That said, it certainly be better to have all four matched.
Generally the best tyres should be installed on the rear of the car, even if this seems wrong. In icy conditions it is a must!
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=52