Slightly different request for advice re tyres!

[CAPP0]

MrsC called me a little earlier, she was out in the Defender when a young lad, who didn't know what an ice scraper was for, drove out of a side turning and into the Landie. I'm in London, she's in Kent, so I haven't seen it yet, but a friend of ours, who used to run a car parts shop and so is reasonably au-fait, has had a look and it seems that the only damage is a slash in the sidewall of the tyre. He's stuck the spare on and they've driven a short distance and apparently it feels and sounds fine, so hopefully there's no further damage. Happily MrsC and the dogs are all fine except for a little bit of shock, but the culprit Clio is a bit of a mess. Good job she was in the truck.

Obviously I'll get it checked properly, but if it's just the tyre, and perhaps the wheel, I'll be happy for them to pay for that rather than go through a claim; I'm sure his excess will be significantly more than the replacements.

However. Here's the question from the thread title. The truck is running Grabber ATs, not AT2s, which have done less than 3000 miles.

Question 1: If I can get another AT, given the 3000 miles of wear, will it be an issue if they are not wear-matched across axles?

Question 2: If I can't get another AT, should I stick a pair of AT2s on the rear axle only, or do I need to get him to cough up for all 4? I'm not looking to stitch anyone up here, I'll be happy with the cheapest rectification option which doesn't cause any ongoing issues, I'm just not clear on what needs to be matched, similar wear, etc.

Question 3: What are my chances of finding 1 or 2 ATs?

Thanks guys.

[paintman]

Whilst I wouldn't want to start mixing tread styles - aggressive offroad with roadbiased - as I suspect it could cause some interesting handling I've only changed tyres on my RRC (LT230 transfer) as required so no two have identical tread depth. In the 30-odd years I've had it I've never had any issues with axles/diffs/gearbox or handling as a result.

[300bhp/ton]

CAPP0 said:

given the 3000 miles of wear, will it be an issue if they are not wear-matched across axles?

None what soever.

CAPP0 said:

Question 2: If I can't get another AT, should I stick a pair of AT2s on the rear axle only, or do I need to get him to cough up for all 4? I'm not looking to stitch anyone up here, I'll be happy with the cheapest rectification option which doesn't cause any ongoing issues, I'm just not clear on what needs to be matched, similar wear, etc.

Question 3: What are my chances of finding 1 or 2 ATs?

Thanks guys.

I think stinging them for 4 tyres will sound like you are pulling a fast one. So they'll probably opt to do nothing and mess you about or go through the insurance.

I do know where you are coming from and I like tyres to match. But people fuss way too much over it. For instance there is no legal requirement or MoT check for matching tread depth, or even the same tread pattern to be fitted per axle. Only to check for a mix of radial/crossply.

So legally in 100 years of motoring tyre mixing isn't seen or deemed as an issue.

238/85R16:

http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?dsco=110...

http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?dsco=110...


265/75R16:

http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?dsco=110...

[CAPP0]

Thanks guys, despite this being PH, I'm 100% not looking to sting them for anything other than putting me straight, and if that's one tyre, that's fine. By the same token I didn't want one of the diffs puking all over the road in a month's time, hence the question.

It will actually be quite annoying aesthetically if nothing else if I can't get hold of a single AT, but the truck won't mind

Edit - sorry, missed your links above, will check that, mine are 235/85R16 so hopefully they still have one.

Edited by CAPP0 on Thursday 1st December 12:42