On the way out of town on a family trip, I noticed two of my tires were getting pretty bald, so I stopped in to my local Costco for replacements. The guy behind the counter said that on a vehicle with antilock brakes, all four tires had to have the same tread pattern for the ABS to work correctly. Since he couldn't EXACTLY match the two I didn't want replaced, he *refused* to sell me two tires.

Has anyone ever heard of this? I don't purport to be an expert in ABS or tires, but this was news to me. If it really is a safety issue, I'd like to know. I've searched the forums and other online resources, but can't find a technical reference to this. I've heard from several sources that you shouldn't put on just two snows, but never this...

Thanks in advance for the advice.

-Steve
-----------------------
Newby truck owner -- '05 Red F-150; nothing fancy, but it gets me where I need to go when there's 3 feet of snow on the ground.

 

i think if you have 4wd you really should have all the same treads. sizes etc ... never heard of the a.b.s thing though.

 

If you think about it, it does kinda make sense. If two tires have better traction, they will kick in the ABS later then the ones with less traction. I don't see the issue if the two tires were front or rear though. I don't see any one switching left side only, unless you're a NASCAR driver............

 

You were being scammed... he just wanted to sell you 4 new tires.

The only time this might be a concern is you have an older vehicle that doesn't have separate ABS for each wheel. With your 2005 F150 that isn't an issue. He was either an idiot or just trying really hard to sell more tires. As long as the tires are the same size, having a slightly different tread pattern shouldn't matter

 

I would have to agree. The ABS will kick in when it needs too. It doesn't care what tread design is on the tires. If it did then it would also have to care about tread depth, air pressure and any other factor that leads to traction. All the abs needs to know is if the tire is rolling or not.