Different tyre brands left/right?

Soldato
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Hi guys, looks like this place I took the car for a service wasn't up to much... six hours after replacing my front tyres the right hand tyre is flat.

I've also noticed that the tyres are difference brands on left and right. Is this okay/legal?
 
It's legal, wouldn't recommend it personally but I've done it.

wait a minute - you had your tyres replaced a few hours ago and one is flat? take it back dude

best off matching tyres on each axle if possible, not the end of the world if you don't depending what/how you drive
 
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Not advised but depends on the car.

If its a 1litre micra then yeah doubt it would cause a problem.

If its anything above a 1.6 then I wouldn't.

Saying that I used to drive about with different brands, tread depths on my old astra for ages, but I wanted that to go down a ditch pity it never happend, it loved to understeer though.
 
It is not illegal but it's a silly idea. Always replace tyres in pairs unless the other one is virtually identical in terms of brand, model and wear level.
 
Best avoided if your driving is at all spirited.

That said, I've had a different brand of tyre on all 4 corners before, bought the car like that.
 
[TW]Fox;12118074 said:
Probably wouldnt buy a car like that as it's a pretty good pointer to the fact its been run on the cheap or by someone who isn't really bothered.

That's why the car cost £80. It was also a non-runner (mismatched ECUs).
 
Thanks guys, looks like a call to the garage tomorrow morning to get the brand new flat replaced, with the same brand as the other. Looks like I was mildly done over with this garage :o

We're only talking a 1.4 Clio here, no beast, but if the same brand is best then that's what I'll go for.
 
It doesn't matter what the car is, it's capable of traveling at the speed limit so one day it might need to brake hard from the speed limit. Tyres matter.
 
Front different to back = OK
One side different to the other = :( (although perfectly legal)

It not really to do with the engine size, it's more for hard braking, where different patterns may give different levels of grip and cause the car to steer to one side if you have to stop quickly.

I agree with Fox, different tyres on different sides generally indicates that the person chose the cheapest tyre available when one's run out. The owner might have tried to save money elsewhere too...
 
I think I can remember the tyres too:

Michelin | Wheelspeed
Bridgestone | Something unpronounceably Chinese.

And the spare is Pirelli.

Changed all 4 to Pirelli P3000's about a fortnight before a certain relative decided the car looked better the wrong way up.
 
I guess when you've got something like a 1.4 clio potentially breaking hard from 6-/70/80mph+ too you're probably relying more on the tyre slowing you down that much else, there's a reasonable chance it doesn't have ABS? also I doubt it has discs on the back so there's a fair bit more for the tyres to do just in terms of holding onto the road.

I don't think its the end of the world but if I got my car back from a service with 2 different makes of tyre on it I wouldn't even accept it or pay for it. Thats shocking service.
 
Thanks guys.

there's a reasonable chance it doesn't have ABS?

I don't think its the end of the world but if I got my car back from a service with 2 different makes of tyre on it I wouldn't even accept it or pay for it. Thats shocking service.

It does have ABS (and drums at the back I believe) and I know that the ABS works from having to do quite a hair raising emergency stop when I met a car going on the wrong side of the road trying to overtake a pair of cyclists on a tight bend :o *pats brakes reassuringly*.

I'll get this sorted tomorrow. It seems so hard to find a good garage.
 
As an update I called the garage. Apparently they give the tyre work to a tyre place, they don't do it themselves and they don't usually do different brand tyres left and right. Riiiight. Anyway they quickly backed down and replaced the flat with one of the same brand as the left one.

Not sure I'll be going there again just in case.
 
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