New tyre x 2?

[Frogslegs]

Our front tyre required replacing so visited a garage in Niort who were giving a discount...only to be told that in France it is obligatoire to replace both of them even if only one is worn! Is this true? Or is it again another french scam against us Brits!

[cooperlola]

Scam or not, unless the other tyre is virtually brand new, I would never consider running two tyres with uneven tread wear.  If it is really new, can you change the worn tyre for the spare and say it is the spare you are replacing.  That could not be construed as one of a pair.

[Dick Smith]

It's not a scam, it's a serious safety issue. I would try to go with Coops' answer, but only if the tyre really is new, not part-worn.

[Deimos]

I believe it is the regulations. I have been told the same applies to things like shock absorbers, brake disks/pads, etc. Makes sense to me (i.e. I can see the logic behind it).

Maybe the more important question is, how has only one become worn - maybe there is some issue with your car as I would have expected them both to wear at around the same rate it everything is aligned/set-up properly.

Ian

[Dick Smith]

Unless one has been damaged and replaced out of sequence - I've done that and ended up replacing two tyres because I wrecked one of them on a kerb...

[cooperlola]

Yup, I'm definately of the both tyres persuasion Dick but maybe as you say he has serious damage on a nearly-new tyre?  That's the only senario where I might even be tempted to replace just one.

[Dick Smith]

My tyre place won't do it, at least on my fronts (front-wheel drive car), they say it is suicidal. I tend to believe them. I recently upped the spec of my tyres (all 4) and the difference in control and handling is very marked.

[Frogslegs]

many thanks for all the replies

[Chancer]

I had this same problem with a sidewall rip in a nearly brand new tyre, all the tyre fitters refused point blank. I argued my case and also quoted the controle technique regulations (which only dictate the same construction type, not manufacturer or degree of wear) to no avail

So I walked to the first tyre shop carrying the wheel and asked for it to be replaced with a tyre of my choice, they did not know what to say and also my french had a bad day so they did what I asked rather than see me walk down the road to the competition.

Incidentally when I had the original pair of tyres fitted (replacing the worn rears of my F.W.D.) car I asked for them to be refitted on the front, as these do the bulk of the work and wear faster. I always do this as it is safer to have the best tyres on the front of a F.W.D. vehicle, for this reason I also swop end to end when they are half worn.

The garage refused saying it was illegal, dangerous etc, I ended up rotating them myself after refusing to take the car off of the ramp and to pay.

 

P.S.

I am personally happy to have (reasonably) unevenly worn tyres or different marques on the same "axle" but respect the opinions of others who are not.

I would also point out that having a significantly different rolling diameter can cause problems under certain circumstances for vehicles with electronic stability controls and also a very few of the vehicles with limited slip differentials namely Chrysler Jeeps as shown on the Watchdog program.

[Will]

It is in fact a legal requirement in France (unlike Britain where it is only advisory) to have matching tyres on the same axle. For this reason they are generally sold in pairs only. If you have odd tyres and are stopped by a gendarme you can expect a warning or a fine.

[Benjamin]

Will

When you say pairs do you mean same make and model?

[Bugsy]

You can also come across problems in france if you run tyres of a different size to manufacturers standard spec. I run off-road All terrains on my jeep that are oversize and had to work really hard to convince the very nice man in our local 'Control Technique' that they were OK.

I produced an American magazine showing a vehicle over there running the same combination I had and he was then OK with it.

Sports and Performance cars can have the same problems, when running larger rims and/or oversize tyres.

[Will]

[quote user="Benjamin"]Will

When you say pairs do you mean same make and model?
[/quote]

Strictly speaking I think the answer is yes, but as far as the gendarmes are concerned they just need to look the same. Whoever does the controle technique inspection might be a little more fussy though.

[Anton Redman]

Ways round the problem :

Buy a sixth wheel from a car breakers and fit the new pair keeping the old one on the rim to be used when you next damage a tyre.

Visit one of the less salubrious dealers in 'part worn tyres' who will normally fit one tyre.

If you damage a tyre within 5000 kilometres of fitting my garage as opposed to tyre dealer was prepared to replaced one of a pair

 

[allanb]

[quote user="J.R."]I am personally happy to have (reasonably) unevenly worn tyres or different marques on the same "axle" but respect the opinions of others who are not.[/quote]

The Code de la Route is clear on this point; there must not be a difference of more than 5mm in tread depth between two tyres on the same axle.

This rather obviously implies that there should be no objection to installing just one new tyre, as long as that requirement is met.  My conclusion, FWIW, is that the dealer would prefer to sell you two and that's the only reason.

I must say that I was surprised to find that the permissible difference is as much as 5mm; it seems a lot.  I have double-checked the source, to make sure it wasn't a misprint.

[Sunday Driver]

Allanb

Which article of the code did you find that deals with tyres?

Edit:  Found it  [:)].  It's in a separate order.

 

[Jonzjob]

We have had a bad and a good experience as far as tyres her are concerned.

Bad.  We hired an upholstered roller skate called a Toy-yata Micra with 3000 K on the clock and hit a rock which tore the side out of the tyre. We were returning home the following day. We tried to get another Bridgestone and couldn't so we had to buy 2 (two) tyres, because I know that the hire company would have thrown all their toys out of the cot and charged us again for the 'correct' tyre. So we had to have 2 fitted. As it happened we found a 'buy one, bet one free' deal. It still cost almost 100€ and left a nasty taste. We couldn't fit the 'spare' as a replacement as it was one of these idiotic get you home, 80Kph things. I complained bitterly to the company director about the fact that they had a car for hire that you can't get tyres for??? How stupid!!

Good.   The front tyres on our C8 only lasted 15,000K because the last time the tracking was done, by a national chain place, it was not done correctly! So we went to a local family run independant. They re-did the tracking and supplied one tyre and fitted the full size spare which was brand new. This was their suggestion. They could have sold us 2 new tyres and rubbed their hands together, but they know now that I will recomend them to every one I know and some will try them too. As a point of interest, the tyre and the tracking were cheaper there than any of the national chains.

So if anyone in the Cracassonne area is interested, please PM me and I will give you details!!!

[pogo]

If tyres have to be replaced as pairs,why give the price for one?

[Jonzjob]

Mine were replaced as a pair, but I only bought one...

[dave21478]

[quote user="J.R."]

.........

Incidentally when I had the original pair of tyres fitted (replacing the worn rears of my F.W.D.) car I asked for them to be refitted on the front, as these do the bulk of the work and wear faster. I always do this as it is safer to have the best tyres on the front of a F.W.D. vehicle, for this reason I also swop end to end when they are half worn.

The garage refused saying it was illegal, dangerous etc, I ended up rotating them myself after refusing to take the car off of the ramp and to pay......

[/quote]

 

Hi.

Sorry to bump an older post, but I havnt had net access for a while and spotted this while browsing.

 

Garages will always recomend the new tyres go on the REAR of a fwd car.

As you say, the fronts wear quicker as they do all the work, but for safety reasons, the better tyres should be on the rear. Hard cornering, or braking, or lifting off the accelerator when cornering causes the rear of the car to go "light", lessening grip. If the front tyres are significantly better than the rears, the rear tyres can loose traction first, causing the rear end to slide out. This is called lift-off oversteer and for the inexperienced or unaware driver is difficult to control, causing the car to spin round. This is a handling trait of a few hot hatches like 205GTi`s when pushed hard, but applies to all fwd cars to some extent.

Having the poorer tyres on the front means that in the same situation, the front wheels will loose traction before the rears, making the car understeer, which is much more controllable.

 

Although this all sounds like boy racer stuff, I remember seeing a practical demonstration on either Top Gear or 5th Gear in Britain a couple of years back. A normal fwd car (might have been a VW Polo) was driven round a wet bend at a reasonable speed. The idea was to simulate arriving at a corner slightly tighter than expected and having to steer slightly harder than normal. It wasnt anything extreme, just an average curve as might be encountered anywhere.

With the worn tyres on the rear, the car spun 180 degres and went off the track backwards. With the worn tyres on the front, the car understeered towards the outside of the curve but was easilly brought under control without leaving the road.