Yamaha TRX850 Enthusiasts Forum

I've always bought tyres as pairs, same make and brand front and back, and I know this is what manufacturers recommend and that tyres are made to work together/complement each other, but I seem to have got a mix of loose rubber in the garage at the minute and was going to fit different brands front and back. Do you guys generally do this or is it a no-no?

Also, seem to have ended up with various brands of oil, about 1.5l or so of each left over. It's all 10w40, but again I have always put the same brand in. Would it hurt to put in say half Castrol and half Shell if it's the same rating? Can't think it would...?

I don't know about tyres, but I personally don't like to mix different tyres from the same manufacturer so wouldn't even consider mixing manufacturers. Oil, on the other hand, I have no worries about mixing (maybe I should?) Surely one semi-synthetic much the same as the next? I top it up with whatever we have at the time. Obviously an oil and filter change gets a whole 4 litres of fresh oil. I put diesel oil in last time and it's running nicely

trixynut wrote:I've always bought tyres as pairs, same make and brand front and back, and I know this is what manufacturers recommend and that tyres are made to work together/complement each other, but I seem to have got a mix of loose rubber in the garage at the minute and was going to fit different brands front and back. Do you guys generally do this or is it a no-no?

Also, seem to have ended up with various brands of oil, about 1.5l or so of each left over. It's all 10w40, but again I have always put the same brand in. Would it hurt to put in say half Castrol and half Shell if it's the same rating? Can't think it would...?

Hiya Dave

No reason not to have different tyres on the TRX. It's not that sensitive a chassis! More important to have a tyre that's properly inflated and isn't square. Now that will really bugger the handling! I've never had any issues with different "series" or different mfgs., though I suppose you could be the first to discover a particularly bad combination! I was recently using a Sportec M1 120 and a Conti Road Attack 170. I'm still here!

I know I don't have to point out the obvious to you, but clearly if you put a Diablo Supercorsa on the front and an old, part-worn Mez 4 on the back, you need to bear in mind the different traction profiles of the tyres. 10 years ago, this would have been especially important, with much more warming up and performance tyres being much more "precious" in the cold / wet / slippery tarmac. I can remember what Mez 1 comp Ks were like on the front of the TRX before you got them warmed up. In Scotland in winter... not nice! But these days, tyre performance is so good that, IMO, this has become much less important.

i have your old dunlop on the back and a diablo on the front no problems, and ive been right to the edge of the tyre ,, and oils it doesnt matter if its all clean there will be no problems ,,just don't do what phat did and fill the motor with rat piss

yep - mixing oil is fine as long as same grade etc.

tyres are not so clear cut and personally I wouldn't - they are designed to work in pairs but (as has been said) as long as you don't mix super sticky rear with bakerlite front you should be ok. Why not sell them on ebay and buy a pair?

i am going to give the new rosso,s a go at the start of the new season

I always try to stick with the same oil. I just like it that way.

Tyres again I like to use a matched pair, but have used tyres from different manufacturers before without issues. Enough people mix different compounds from the same manufacturer, which is wrong too. I think the biggest issue is the speed at which they warm up, and some sports tyres can be terrible in the winter.

burty wrote:I always try to stick with the same oil. I just like it that way.

Tyres again I like to use a matched pair, but have used tyres from different manufacturers before without issues. Enough people mix different compounds from the same manufacturer, which is wrong too. I think the biggest issue is the speed at which they warm up, and some sports tyres can be terrible in the winter.

Agree with that completely. The SC1 and Sc2 compund tyres on my bike are downright scary until I've got some heat in them.

Yep. It's why I would never mix a sport touring tyre on the rear with a sport tyre on the front from the same manufacturer. Like a Bridgestone BT020 on the rear and BT010 on the front which used to be a popular combination when these tyres were in vogue. The 010s are terrible in the cold so you end up with an appalling mismatch in grip, typically the opposite of what people are trying to achieve by mixing the tyres in the first place.