different tyres - traction isssue?

Bstatic

Ok,

I drive a 2001 Nissan Almera saloon. I got a flat tyre on sunday, it had been plugged twice before but it was time to buy a new tyre.
I decided to go with the cheaper option. I went to a "backyard" garage, basically a guy that had been laid off from a garage recently and is now running his own business from his shed.
So he replaced the tyre, balanced it and refitted it to the car.
I paid 55 euro, only 10 euro cheaper than the reputable tyre garage.
The tyre is indonesian, poecum is the name I think. Its on the back right of my car now. Its 185/65 like the rest of them. I was happy enough.

Then my friend later noticed that its a different thread than the rest of my tyres, the other three all have 3 rows, the new one has 5 rows of threads. He said this could cause a problem with traction, in wet weather the car could skid due to different traction, is this true?

Anyway, I rang the mechanic back to explain this and he said " ah no, don't worry bout that its not a problem at all" - I had no argument so I said ok so.

Is he fobbing me off?

mickdw

Always best to replace tyres in 2s, i.e. both fronts or both backs together or indeed all 4 together. I wouldnt worry about the pattern tough in this case.

Maruney

I personally always use the same tyre brand per axel, but I dont think it will make a noticible difference with the size you have.

peasant

Theoretically there is a difference in grip between two different tyre threads and makes, on a theoretical road surface you would notice a difference in driving characteristics to previously.

On a real life road the grip conditions for each tyre are never going to be identical anyway, so it doesn't matter that much.

Personally I still try to have the same four tyres all round in a similar state of wear ...but that's not always possible

Bstatic

Cheers for that, very helpful!

It makes sense as you say that no two tyres are ever going to be identical anyway so traction will vary normally anyway!

Mr.David

To be honest I'd be more worried about the quality of the tyre that you've put on than matching across axles.

I think in the dry you'll be fine with different tread patterns but in heavy rain under braking it may feel a bit unstable. Basically the tyre acts as a pump and the tread design will determine the volume of water it can pump. Different tread = different volume and so you could aquaplane on one side of the car and not the other resulting in a spin.

cantdecide

I think the issue of having different tyres with different wear is worse on driving wheels because they will have different rolling radiuses. I was told it won't do your gearbox any good.

Pairs or sets and you can't go wrong.