It's been the difference of being embarrassed to take anyone in the car or not. Honestly I don't think the larger tires are as big a help as the alignment coupled with new tires.

 

great thanks for the advice. i think i will get two more Goodyears as that is what the dealer i purchased the car from replace the two worn ones with. The older two have about half tread on them but seem to have been wearing evenly.

 

I have to tell you that replacing only two tires on an AWD car is not recommended.

 

interesting, well that gives me even more reason to get two to match the new ones then. Thanks for all the advice.

 

To explain my rather terse statement earlier:

Most people know that on a FWD or RWD car, you should not place different tires or differently worn tires on the drive wheels. The reason is that even a slight difference between the tires will cause a significant amount of extra wear on the differential (which allows the wheels on opposite sides to rotate at slightly different speeds, for example, when turning a corner). This extra wear will cause the differential to wear out very prematurely. Most people know about this and will always replace tires in pairs.

What many people don't realize is that an AWD car (such as your X-Type) also has a differential in the center to allow the front and rear wheels to rotate at different speeds. This differential will wear out prematurely if the front and rear tires are not the same. For this reason you should always have all four wheels and tires identical on an AWD car.

I just went through all of this a couple of months ago after hitting a curb and gashing the sidewall of one of the tires on my X-Type.