I need advice on mismatched tires Caravan...tnx
 

Hey, hi. I'm taking off my 4 winter studded tires, and they will be left on the rims for use next year. I have 4 extra 16" rims and 4 brand new 16" tires...

Here's the situation...2 of the tires are new summer tires...205/65/16...and....2 of the tires are new winter tread tires (no studs) 215/55/16

Which 2 should I put on the front? and which 2 should I put on the back?? Thanks....I don't drive more than 65 MPH, and usually no more than 60 miles from my home, and will probably put no more than 1000 miles on them this year.....again, thanks. DennisJJ

I can't recall if Dodge made any vans with AWD or not, but as long as your van doesn't have AWD, it's just a matter of preference. The reason it matters is because different size tires will rotate at different speeds - on AWD vehicles this causes the clutches that operate the driveline to burn out.

In theory, the alignment (caster) will be affected, but you likely won't notice any pulling or anything like that (unless the alignment is already off). You'll get more road noise from the winter tires so that may be a consideration. If you don't have tire pressure sensors, you could also inflate the summer tires to 5 PSI more than the winter tires to help compensate for the difference.

As I said it's more about your preferences - if you start with the winter tires on the front, you might just have to see how it sounds, feels and handles. If you don't like it, rotate them and see if it makes a difference.

what he said if awd
caster isn't a tire wear angle so your ok in that regard.

for tread wear put the ones with most tread on the front...fwd will wear the front tires 3x faster than the rear. as they are both new; put the summers up front as it will wear better temp wise. most of the weight is probably up front unless your full load.

other considerations are speedo accuracy. for the most accurate.. put the tires with the closes circumference to the stock tires on the front. the vehicle speed sensor is probably read on the transaxle

abs wise the tire size difference front to back probably isn't large enough to confuse the abs module.

Thank you for the advice and explanation.