Law regarding tyres on a 4 wheel drive car

Building Candy

Building Candy

Building Candy

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Some one just told me they tried to get 2 front tyres for their Volvo S60R (4x4) at Costco but the chap said as they didnt have the exact same type as the rears and that by law he had to have all 4 new. By exact same I mean they had the same size/make but the "model" was slightly different.

I always thought so long as they were the same size on each axle you were ok?

can anyone confirm?
 
He's talking ******, you can put remoulds on it if you want to.
 
As long as the tyres are the same size and have similar amounts of wear (not a problem in this case) it doesn't matter as far as I'm aware.
 
While loling at this I did a quick search to see if anyone else had been fed this crap, then I crashed into this:


When changing tyres on a 4x4 vehicle there are a number of important things to consider. Two of the most important (and costly if ignored) are matching tread depths between new and used tyres if not replacing a full set and maintaining the correct rolling circumference if changing tyre sizes.

Matched tread depths are important as too large a difference can, on certain vehicles result in "wind-up" of the 4WD system differential causing serious damage. This will be dependent to some extent on the type of differential and 4wd system used on a particular vehicle.
Click to expand...
 
it could be company policy for where he works and he is confusing that with law

or he could just be trying to earn a quick buck
 
ubersonic said:
While loling at this I did a quick search to see if anyone else had been fed this crap, then I crashed into this: Matched tread depths are important as too large a difference can, on certain vehicles result in "wind-up" of the 4WD system differential causing serious damage.
Click to expand...

Yeh, i mean thats fairly obvious, if you have 20"s on the back and 10"s on the front then the 4wd system has to put the extra rpm somewhere. At the least it'd send the traction control loopy.

No he was told it was now the law, lol reminded me of the simsons where homer gets stitched up for 4 tyres and "stem lube"
 
ubersonic said:
While loling at this I did a quick search to see if anyone else had been fed this crap, then I crashed into this
Click to expand...

This was very common ages ago with the electronic transfer system on the Cavalier and Calibra 4x4s - don't remember any other systems suffering quite as bad.

The chap at Costco is def smoking something :confused:
 
The law doesn't even require you to have matched tyres on the same bloody axle.

All it requires is that they be the same size (ie. 205/50/16). Technically it also requires them to be the same type but by type they mean either radial or crossply and almost nobody uses or sells crossply tyres any more.

It is true that some 4WD systems can get screwed up my mismatched tread depths but this is mainly true for fixed 4WD systems, eg. Subaru. It's not true for part-time 4WD systems such as Haldex or ATESSA. No idea what Volvo use though.
 
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