Tyre size advice. Is this legal?

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

They probably swapped the wheels to get it through the MOT then changed them back after

The number of times I have seen that approach taken, and often why used car yards have loads of cars that are right on the limit for tyres but there isn't an advisory on the ticket

 

[Nasher]

Normally they just stick on the cheapest ditch finders they can find, which is just as dangerous. It's about time they banned crap tyres.

 

[Speirs]

Thanks for all the replies.
I'll get them both changed so they are the same make / size / tread.
What's the best place to get decent tyres.
Anyone recommend any 215 / 45 R17 tyres around £50 to £60.
Thanks in advance.
The mot garage wasn't the place I bought the car from by the way.

 

[vanandjuanunited]

Change it for the spare

 

[Speirs]

Change it for the spare

There is no spare.
It's a puncture fix kit instead.
The 215/ 45R17 is in good condition with lots of tread on it.
Can I just replace the 235/ 45R17 with a different make tyre tread pattern but in 215/ 45R17 size or replace both so the make and tread match?

 

[grudas]

There is no spare.
It's a puncture fix kit instead.
The 215/ 45R17 is in good condition with lots of tread on it.
Can I just replace the 235/ 45R17 with a different make tyre tread pattern but in 215/ 45R17 size or replace both so the make and tread match?

afaik by law axles need to have matching tyres.

doubt you'll find anything decent for 50-60/pop you'd be looking at 70-80 more for something like rainsport 3.

I'd replace them both and that'll solve all your problems. I'd go as far as dumping that car back to the garage and telling them to sort it out.

 

[Dan103]

just laziness when one of the front tyres needed changing instead of fitting same size fitted a different size for time i bet

 

[grudas]

just laziness when one of the front tyres needed changing instead of fitting same size fitted a different size for time i bet

oh the other size was cheaper..

 

[GeX]

yeah, a lot of rwd cars (bmw, merc, etc) have different width/diameter rears to the front. The spare tyre will be the same as either the front or the back, so will be fine on its matching axle, but will be wonky on the other axle - this is where I get confused with the law, as they've sold a car with a spare tyre that will potentially make the car a mot fail/"unroadworthy" if used on 1 of the axles.

The width is irrelevant, it's the circumference that must be the same on an axle. Remember that the second part is the size of the sidewall proportionality to the width. So a spacesaver will be much narrower but it'll also have a higher profile so the overall circumference / rolling radius should near enough match.
If the RR is too far out on a car with ESP / ABS it can throw warning lights on as the car thinks each side is travelling at different speeds all the time.

With the tyre sizes the OP has;

"Difference in circumference: 54.29mm or 2.88% So when your speedo reads 70mph, you're actually travelling at mph 72.02"
http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_size_calculators.html

I would expect it to fail an MOT like that

 

[Dr Who]

It is a construction and use offence to use tyres of a different size on the same axle. It is also dangerous in adverse situations and can invalidate your insurance. If you bought the car from a dealer then he has committed an offence as well.

If it passed an MOT I would suggest that the tester didn't check them.

Space savers get around this by having a strict limit on their use.