Mixing tyre brands

Not sure about a quote but mixing left to right is definitely not good. Front to back less important but i personally wouldn't mix and i wouldn't expect a dealer to do so. If you'd have turned up with them mixed i bet they would've recommended them to be changed

Hi there,

mixing brands & treads across an axle has always been a no-no on 2WD vehicles, let alone 4WD. Each tyre has its own characteristics for traction, wear, warm-up, for both wet, dry, mud, snow etc so putting two different tyres on a single axle is certainly going to skew the handling of the vehicle in adverse/extreme conditions. If you only pootle around at 30MPH every where it's unlikely that it would be noticeable, but the golden rule is don't mix them.

I'm a little surprised a dealership would suggest such a thing because there are potential libility implications if (heaven forbid) say you had an accident for which the root cause was assessed as being partly due to mixed tyres.
Similarly it is always advisable to ensure your boots are even across an axle - i.e. you don't mix a brand new tyre with a heavily worn tyre - again due to the difference and handling characteristics they will exhibit.
According to the VW Touareg owners handbook - 3.4 Tips and Maintenance : page 53
"All four wheels must be fitted with radial tyres of the same type, size (rolling circumference) and the same tread pattern."

Do you recognise your dealer on this picture?



Thought so.

I was going to say name and shame them, but it looks like mcasmcas already has

mcasmcas said:

Do you recognise your dealer on this picture?

Thought so.

Click to expand...

they are cute. :roll:

Hi,

Just to add to this discussion. Got a puncture this morning on one continental and took it and car to independent garage and he noticed the front two were worn down at outer edge (long story but due to misaligned wheels so i knew they were not good) He had one continental and a couple of coopers but would not mix the brands up especially on a 4WD. So picking up 4 Cooper "tires" tomorrow at ?105 fitted, balanced (+VAT) (ps Continentail was ?195 all up for one)

geraout said:

My recently aquired 2004 2.5TDI was given 4 new tyres after a bit of haggling at the VW dealers. However they gave me 2 Marangonis on the front, and a Toyo and a Dunlop on the back. I said I wasn't happy but they insisted that this was OK.

I noticed a quote from shipscat in the steering wobble thread where he mentioned "spoke to vw who recomended I didnt mix brands" - I'm trying to find out wher this info came from.

I've called VW customer care and the luxury car customer care but they couldn't help. The nearest I could get was a recommendaton that tyres are changed in pairs.

Does anyone know where I can get a definitive answer to go back to the dealer with?

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OK, apart from naming and shaming the dealer (Kaine ) I think this might help you:

According to the law in the UK it is permissible to mix tyres across the axle as long as they are of the same construction i.e. radial. Many motoring organisation though take this further and only recommend tyres of the same construction and pattern should be mixed across the axle so aiding equal handling especially in the event of extreme driving conditions. In some countries, such as France, mixing tyre patterns across the axle is illegal. The mixing issue also applies to tread depths as well. A tyre with 7mm of tread is going to have better water dispersion characteristics than a tyre with 3mm remaining tread depth. This means that in some driving conditions tyres with different states of wear may not react in the same manner across the axle. To ensure best and safest driving conditions we advise fitting tyres with equal performance across the axle.

So what I'd say is that you will be taking the car abroad (use France as an example), and that the mix of brands on the same axle would make it illegal.

Also get some advice on the type of tyres on front and rear axle. I think there's a danger with 4WD perhaps and how the car will - or will not - respond in problematic situations.

mcas