Tire sizes

[CCieurzo <CCieurzo@aol.com>]

Hey all,

This new year found me driving from San Diego to Pensacola to report to my
next duty station. About 125 miles out of SD  on I-8 I pulled out to pass a
semi when I saw something in the middle of the road. Unfortunately, I did not
quite miss it and it took a chunk out of my brand new 17" Compomotive wheel
and cut the sidewall of my tire. I ended up having to drive ~300 miles on that
stupid donut of a spare tire to Tucson to get the tire replaced (does anyone
know how much it sucks to have to do 50mph in a 75 zone?). I called ahead to
Beaudry Porsche/VW/Audi etc, explained my problem, and they called around
Tucson to find a replacement tire (Pirelli P7000 215/45-17's apparently are
more rare than gold out there and they were only able to find a Nitto in the
correct size). They were very pleasant, helpful, and got me back on the road
in a reasonable amount of time. My question is this: I now have a Nitto NT501
on the left front with ~1600 miles on it and 3 Pirellis with ~4k miles on
them. Will replacing the Nitto with a new Pirelli adversely affect the
drivetrain given the differing tread depth? I doubt that the Nitto and
Pirellis have the same rolling radius either but I don't have that info handy.
TIA.

Chris
97 A4q 2.8
96 Jetta GLX