Mixing different brand tyres

Theoretically yes. In practice probably no. Different tyres have different characteristics. Similar tyres from different manufacturers will have a different tread, grip, slip angle etc. Ideally both tyres on each axle should be the same make and type to avoid any variation between the two to road conditions, cornering etc, and to ensure even braking. In practice the difference could b too small to be really noticeable. Mike.

The message from "ITMA" contains these words:

Pot luck. I've had occasions where it's made no appreciable difference - and other occasions where it's made the car almost undriveable.

had tyres great in the wet, some really bad, imagine have one of each on the front or rear. wouldnt take much to lose traction at a corner.

I don't know if this is true but someone told me that mixing brands on the same axel in Germany is illegal? Anyone care to confirm? They are usually over the top with these things.

Keep well,

Will

In message , Will Reeve writes

This wasn't the case when I lived there. It's been a few years though and it may have changed but I wouldn't think so. Imagine you've got a fairly new set of fronts and you get a puncture. You then find out that the brand you have has gone out of production and you have to buy a pair.

They have some sensible rules too. Like it being illegal to drive without clearing any snow from the bonnet and roof.

The message from Paul Giverin contains these words:

I imagine you could use Driving without Due Care and Attention in this country if you had to.

Still get people playing Tank Commanders when it's frosty, despite the police standing at the end of the road trying to reel them in. I say "trying" 'cos I've seen one car fail to notice the dibble in the fluoro jacket 'cos the windscreen was so obscured.

I had a Continental EconoContact on the left front and a Continental Super Contact on the front right. It seemed OK until I accelerated hard when it would swap lanes almost and was very difficult to control. Putting another EconoContact on the right fixed it.

Once watched a woman in a Festa drive into a roadside skip because half her windscreen was frosted up.

Made my day!

I once mixed a Conti (brand new spare) with a Firestone (15,000 miler) on the front after a puncture on a Mondeo TD. It became virtually impossible to stop it diving for the left until I bought another new Conti and matched them up.

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Doctor D" saying something like:

The car probably had a homing instinct.