The car I bought yesterday has three 155 tyres and one 165 tyre - is this legal? Is this safe?

Answer 1

some people are givin you bollocks answers,yes its illegal and if your stopped itll be £60 and three points.I MOT cars every day and 1 person has told you right you cant mix tyre sizes you can look at which tyre on the back has the best tred if its a new 165 replace the 155 thats ok but you cant mix sizes on an axle buy a new one youll get a 155 new for £28 fitted

Answer 2

Small little detail but I suppose this is a 4 wheel car we are all arguing about. If its a 3 wheeler and the wider one is by itself then its fine. The basic law and good practice is for each axle to have compatible tyres. I would even go as far as saying that the same size of tyre but a different make, tread, wear etc is as dangerous as different sizes. Try handling a car with one new tyre and one worn tyre across the axle and you soon find out how dangerous it is. Buying any car from a dealer without a balanced set of tyres tells me the dealer should be sorted. Take the heavy mob round and tell the dealer either he sorts your car or he faces the wrath of all your mates. I've got a few hairy motorbiker friends who dont charge much for their bit of fun. If you do mix tyres for example on a rear wheel drive, the norm is for wider on the back and narrower on the front.

Answer 3

It is an offence to mix tyre sizes on the same axle.

You could have 155 front and 165 rear but the sensible practice is that all should be the same

Should you have to replace after a puncture then you could run into problems.

Answer 4

if this was a car dealer and not a privte seller you can take the car back to the dealer and insist they sort out the problem. have you checked the spare? what size is that 155 or 165?
if 165 you want 2 155s to replace the 165 or maybe you want 3/4 165s your choice.
legal I doubt it,
safe not as others pointed out this could be dangerous and cause an accident. also as others pointed out it is not going to be economical to run. especially if it is illegal and ou fail to correct it. It could be anything from a small fine to your car being crushed (at a guess) in the UK they are getting tough on motoring offences.

eitherway get the problem resoved quickly.
if you bought the car second hand check for other problems and if in doubt attempt to contact the original seller to ask them to put the defect right (though to be frank no private seller would admit to selling you the car with different sized wheels, so you would have no legal comeback on a private seller) the saying buyer beware springs to mind here. you should have checked the car out properly before paying for it and or signing any paperwork on it.

good luck in getting your car problem resolved safely and quickly.
until this is resolved try not to drive the car just incase you run into any problems. have the seller come to you with the replacement wheel. remember though if buying new wheels make sure to get them properly balanced for stability and performance as well as safety.

Answer 5

no it's agaist the law to mix sizes i found that out a couple a years back when i got stopped, i was also told the car could spin out at normall speed, i was given 14 days to change the wheel and then had to get this yellow document stamped to prove the work was done and take it to the local police station.The tyres them selfs was legal the tread on them just the sizes was diffrent on one on the back.
hope this helps x kitti x

Answer 6

as far as the legal issue goes that's regulated by your sates D.O.T regulations and i would very well doubt they would clause 1/10th illegal the variance between 155 and 165 is very small and with all my years as a technician I could not even start to see where It would take effect on the handling because your only looking at 1/4 inch in height with the 165 being new and 155 having mileage on them and still being in the legal tread depth limit you can have them changed if you feel uncomfortable with them but if it was me I would run them because your vehicle suspension is designed to compensate fore height and pressure variances in all the chassis components

Answer 7

Actually they're not seriously different, but it is illegal & an MoT failure - I quote "One tyre is of a different nominal size or aspect ratio to any other on the same axle."

Have you got a legal spare? In that case put it on the road.

Answer 8

You should have the same size tyre on each axel

I'm afraid you are not legal

Answer 9

I agree with the first post completely. I would suggest that the odd size tire be placed on the back of the automobile. If you decide to get a replacement, get a pair and put them on the front. Put the best of the three on the rear and use the last one as your spare.

Answer 10

All the tyres should be the same size and speed rating!