2014 Ford Escape Titanium with 42000 miles. Front passenger tire with a tear on the sidewall needs replacing. This is a four-wheel drive vehicle and I have been told that all four tires should be replaced to avoid potential damage to the drive train that could be very expensive to fix. Checked the manual but every tire issue is mentioned except for mine. Should mention the current tires have 20 k miles on them. Reason for this the car had so little mileage when purchased(20k) they had dry rot so I replaced them. Your advise?
Thanks for responding. The vehicle brings my wife to and from work 54 miles roundtrip on an Interstate Highway driving with the flow of traffic.
If you do not want to damage the AWD system, change all together.
If it is AWD, unfortunately you'll have to do all four in order to be safe and prevent damage to the AWD system. It is one of the few downsides of AWD.
It is recommended to change tires after 40000miles to 50000 miles depending on the way u drive. But if you drive rough and fast I say change all four but if your drive slow or once a day change one. But one safety side do all four.
These AWD systems do allow for some uneven tire sizes and air pressures.
You can look up the original tread depth of your tires, and then use a gauge to see how much they are worn.
4/32 wear is probably the upper range.
And maybe call the service dept at the Ford dealership. They may have an exact spec.
