Asynchronous tired wear damaging your diff

[ColinsCornflakes]

Several times recently I've heard people saying that if your tyres aren't matched to 1mm or so across an axle with a diff (fwd/ rwd & 4x4) then you're taking a massive risk and your car is probably going to explode or something more serious.

Is this real? Isn't the purpose of a diff to allow one wheel to rotate at a different speed to the other one, is this just a rumour being put about by tyre wholesalers?

(Sorry for the typo in the title)

Edited by ColinsCornflakes on Thursday 15th October 23:00

[irc]

My guess. If you can drive for 50 miles on a spacesaver with a huge difference in diameter then 3mm difference will make no difference.

[5lab]

if you've a limited slip or torque vectoring diff it can wear whatever device is used to apply torque. If its a wide open dif I can't see any way it can apply wear.

[swisstoni]

Sounds like one of the things they say to keep petrolheads awake at night.

[Geertsen]

I may be being simple but wouldn’t mismatched tyre pressures have the same effect? If so, there are so many variables that I don’t believe it. Unless the tyres were wildly different maybe.

[jimmyjimjim]

Depends on the car. Calibra 4x4 was notorious for center diff issues caused by uneven tire wear. Other vehicles, not so much.

[RicksAlfas]

Isn't this a thing which keeps BMW X-drive owners awake at night?