Hard Compound Tyres??

[ressac]

A few blokes mix the front and rear, I do as well for economic reasons more than anything else. I was wondering if this affects wet weather performance of the rear. Different compounds have different tread patterns. Apparently the front tread pattern is designed to remove water from the road and rear tread pattern is designed to deal with what the front couldn't do. If you mix your tyres, does the rear perform less in the wet? Are tread patterns more about ease of manufacture rather than actual specific shape design? Would you have to be Valentino Rossi to distinguish between tread patterns? <i></i>