- Hiya, can anyone advise me about the law of buying replacement tyres. I seem to have a slightly defective tyres, do I need to buy a pair? Or do they simply need to match?
A couple of years ago Norauto demanded they replace them as a pair (one was punctured, so I had no choice) but they did have a vested interest in selling another 150 euros worth of tyre.
The tyres on an axle are meant to be the same.
1 Like
I have always been told this and had to buy two when one only was damaged. A question of safety is the usual answer as it means both tyres on same axle are the same age and make. Obviously if you can replace a damaged one with just a new one, then I expect many do but it may crop up at CT time as to why different makes and wear are on the same axle.
They have to be exactly the same (brand, size, rating etc) on one axle. If you can find the same online, you can buy single tyres.
1 Like
Same rating, no requirement to have the same brand though expect the tyre entre to insist. Slightly different wear should be taken up by the differential; some 4 wheel drive systems ideally require wear to be roughly even front to back and side to side (so think about rotating tyres and keep a piggy bank filled for the day you have to replace all four).
Try telling that to a difficult CT tester (head meets brick wall)
4 Likes
Asking them to show you a law is one way.
Hahaha, if only…
1 Like
I haven’t got time to dig into the law directly - the main bit seems to be “La directive européenne 92/23/CEE” which (Google AI summary - with all the caveats that brings but the screenshot provided by Véro doesn’t seem more definitive) says
Montage par essieu (Annexe IV) : Elle impose que les pneumatiques montés sur un même essieu soient strictement identiques. Cela signifie qu’ils doivent avoir le même profil, les mêmes dimensions, la même structure (radiale ou diagonale) et les mêmes indices de vitesse et de charge.
No actual mention of brand.
Same profile (i.e size), same type (radial or cross ply), same load/speed indicators but not actually brand.
1 Like
All betts being off if you have a safety spare 
1 Like
Any tyre rated for the vehicle is fine on any corner.
If your vehicle is AWD the manufacturer will recommend replacing all 4, it is common practice to replace both on the same axle. If the car is non-awd then fine to replace just the single tyre but under extreme conditions different tyre tread depths can result in different characteristics but for most people most of the time you would never know.
Tyres are the only part of the car touching the road, you pays your money you takes your choice.