wot no tread

[Chris_in_the_UK]

I guess there is not much chance of a consensus! lol

Personal choice and risk - if you are ever unfortunate to be involved in an RTC where there is a serious injury to a third party and your vehicle is inspected as part of the Police investigation then the fact that you have mixed tyres may be cited as a contributor to the chain of events and it will be up to you to prove (legally) that this is not contributory.

Stay safe folks.

 

[Rodney Naghar]

Are you saying that even if the tyres are fully legal and of the correct specification, but because the front axle is of a different brand to the rears that was cited as contributing to an accident? In what way?

 

[Chris_in_the_UK]

Hi Rod

Often, tyres that meet a particular spec and are road legal perform differently (see just about every performance tyre test ever written). There are often variations in grip, roll and braking tests as well as wet weather performance - it is possible the an accident investigator may be of the view (professionally) that a mismatch of tyres had an effect on the vehicle because of these factors. Note - I said may be cited as a contributing factor. It would ultimately depend on the circumstances of the accident and other causation factors but personally (and when I drove for a living as blue light response) i never sit behind the wheel of a car with mismatched tyres.

Others mileage may vary (pun intended).

ORIGINAL: Rodney Naghar

Are you saying that even if the tyres are fully legal and of the correct specification, but because the front axle is of a different brand to the rears that was cited as contributing to an accident? In what way?

 

[tscaptain]

Worth a read - maybe...

http://www.btmauk.com/data/files/Replacing_Car_Tyres_1_June_2011.pdf

 

[Rodney Naghar]

ORIGINAL: Chris_in_the_UK

Hi Rod

Often, tyres that meet a particular spec and are road legal perform differently (see just about every performance tyre test ever written). There are often variations in grip, roll and braking tests as well as wet weather performance - it is possible the an accident investigator may be of the view (professionally) that a mismatch of tyres had an effect on the vehicle because of these factors. Note - I said may be cited as a contributing factor. It would ultimately depend on the circumstances of the accident and other causation factors but personally (and when I drove for a living as blue light response) i never sit behind the wheel of a car with mismatched tyres.

Others mileage may vary (pun intended).

ORIGINAL: Rodney Naghar

Are you saying that even if the tyres are fully legal and of the correct specification, but because the front axle is of a different brand to the rears that was cited as contributing to an accident? In what way?

Hi Chris,

Of course all tyres perform differently, it was just a bit of a significant statement you made earlier when you said

ORIGINAL: Chris_in_the_UK
I have been involved in accident investigations in the past where mixed tyres was cited as a contributor to the chain of events.

I'm not trying to nit-pick, and personally I would never mix brands of tyres on my car (because I do take it on track) but there must be tens of thousands of cars running on a budget with mixed brands on both axels (and on each axle too), and I've never heard of that being a contributory factor, so I would be surprised to hear if that statement was true.

I think it would be much more significant, for example, if the rears vs fronts had massively differing tread depths, because we're really talking about accidents in the wet. I'd much rather see a car with differing brands on each axle than a car with very low tread depth at the front, vs the rear (for example)

So yes mixing brands may have an effect, but on the road, in the real world, in the dry, I think it's very marginal. Other factors such as tread depth/age of tyre/poor geometry etc are much more significant. IMO

 

[944s2]

Alan

Interesting article with some stong statements "Porsches must take the correct N-marked fitments"

Must thats a bit strong is it not?

 

[tscaptain]

I think it is qualified immediately before that by saying "it is not recommended". I would hope that the BTMA knows a bit more about it than most of us.[] Then again you could argue they have the best interests of the tyre manufacturers in mind!