I'm trying to sort out my summer wheels/tires. They've been in my garage for the last few months, and before I put them back on I have to replace a damaged front tire, and both rear tires.

I have Kuhmo SPT's. I bought them last june, and drove about 7,000 miles on them with a few autocrosses in there too. My rears were damaged and replaced with some crappy all seasons after about 4,000 miles, but were still looking good at that point.

The good front SPT still has very good tread depth. Do you think it will cause any problems to run a brand new tire on one side, and the slightly worn one on the other side?

Thanks for the advice

 

The S is pretty sensitive to small changes from side to side. Since our cars tend to steer one way or another just from a few lbs of tire pressure, I would probably go with a new one.

 

tires are best when bouught in a full set(4). If you have 2 really good and one good/bad I would do both at the same time

 

You would want to measure the tread depth to answer for sure. The tire starts with 10/32" and if you have 8-10/32 you would be fine with 1 tire.
If I can help let me know.

 

Is the reasoning behind this to make sure I have even/safe wet traction, or is there more to it?

 

You just would not want to have a completely different tread depth on one side of the car. You can end up with some pulling and possible even anti lock brake problems.