Accident & Tyres (well, tyres mostly!)

nil

none

Will the insurance

nope.

Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

I'm not at all sure why women like men. We're argumentative, childish, unsociable and extremely unappealing naked. I'm quite grateful they do though.

OK, but what if the tyre I replace the damaged one with has a different pattern, compound, etc to the one on the other side? Does that make a difference to the balance of braking?

Ta,

John

If the tyre is damaged then it will need replacing but surely you're not suggesting that the opposite tyre on the same axle is now defective due to the crunch? There are no safety hazards having two different brands on one axle, certainly not for Mr Average anyway.

Dave

my car while

(the guy even

door, etc and

gone; split

the mo.

tomorrow (both

I replace both

replacing just one?

My advice is simple. Replace it with one identical to the tyre on the other side. Make, size and tread pattern. Whilst it's acceptable that tyres of the same size and type, but of different makes may be fitted on the same axle, the characteristics, slip angles and grip etc, might not be the same. Probably not enough to make a noticeable difference, but with a choice, it's a no-brainer. It's always better to have matching tyres on the same axle. Mike.

When I bought my Primera, the nearside front tyre was dodgy and the other a newish Continental that my local tyre dealer couldn't get another of, so he put a very similar pattern Continental on the nearside. I had to change the offside one to be the same as the new one because of the massive torque steer even under light acceleration. If I put my foot down I could swap lanes it was that bad, so I would never put different tyres on the front again. However, I haven't noticed anything nasty about having different tyres on the back, at least in a front drive car.

The message from "Dave" contains these words:

Mmmm, depends. I had dreadful trouble with mixed tyres once on a Metro. Almost undriveable till I moved the missmatch onto the back. Generally though, I'd agree with you that it's not a problem.

I don't really understand why you don't just dump the vehicle at the repairers and drive away their courtesy car, this is what insurance is for. You are unlikely to know what other really important damage has been done to suspension, steering, wheels etc.

The repairers will replace the tyre with the same type if it is still available.

MrCheerful

The message from "MrCheerful" contains these words:

Seems an entirely reasonable course of action to me.

Torque steer? On a Primera?

How'd you manage that then? ;)

'Cos one tyre gripped better under acceleration than the other. I swapped them and it torque steered the other way.

I have. You'll find you can get lift off oversteer at quite low speeds in the wet with mismatched back tyres.

A few years ago I needed a new rim and tyre when some old dear piled into me resulting in some serious kerbing.

Made the insurance repair garage write down that I wanted a certain make and model of tyre to match the nearly new one that was ok on the other side of car. It's not "their" money they are spending so they were quite happy to do so.

Mark S.

Something like a Primula has to be severely provoked to produce lift-off oversteer no matter how badly matched the tyres are / how wet the road is.

Not everyone's driving a Primera though. Wouldn't fancy it on a small Pug.

It's unpleasant on an A6. Though you do have try quite hard.

Wouldn't fancy it on most small cars myself - the short wheelbase encourages lift-off oversteer. The larger the car, the less likely it is to do it as the length stabilises things. My point was that it doesn't really matter how cheap and nasty or badly mismatched rear tyres are on larger FWD vehicles, as the length of them effectively stops them kicking the back out unless severely provoked.

My heavy at the front light at the back, corsa loves it, especially on off camber corners, I had a nice 180 spin on a roundabout on Christmas day,

I stopped on the slip road expecting a flat, but, no its just the roundabout it don't like!

Tom

If the road's clear, then never 180 if you can help it. A 360 is far better as you don't have to U turn, it looks more impressive, and you'll have a silly grin if you manage to 360 and still carry speed when you straighten up :)

*Obvious disclaimer about public roads, safety, etc.*