Tyres changed, did the garage do wrong?

Turtle-TM

I got a rear puncture the other day, got the spare put on, actually a full size that's rated to 130kph which is nice these days! So I couldn't bring the car to get the tyres replaced today, so I got someone to take the car for me, when they got there they fitter said the fronts were in worse condition than the rear, so suggested putting the 2 new ones on the front, (the fronts were getting to the end of their life and I would have been changing them next month before the nct anyway) and then took one of the fronts and put it on the back near side corner. The front wheels were balanced, but when I heard the fronts had been changed I asked if they were tracked and was told that the fitter said the tracking was fine (it's not it's been pulling left for months,again something I was going to get fixed before the nct)

So my question is, is it ok to take one front tyre, and put it on the rear, won't the wear patter be different? They are also 2 different brands with different tread patterns, and secondly, should a garage track after they replace front tyres.


TL;DR front tyres replaced, one front put on rear, will it affect road worthiness/safety/handling and should it have been tracked when fronts changed.

GTE

One of the divides of Motors can be seen in the debate about front vs rear with respect to which has the most tread depth. I am on the side of more tread depth on the rear.

Given all my tyres are within a safe tread range*, I would have a problem with having less tread on the rear in wet situations.
This stance has been supported in my opinion by a few instances of driving on saturated motorways. Some of the newer motorways are very bad for this.

In your situation I would have put new tyres on the rear and the assess the suitability of the old rears for use in the front. This would mean the punctured tyre would have to be replaced by a new tyre so the difference between the new tread and that of the non punctured tyre would be the next consideration.

*No need to start a further debate on the 1.5mm minimum depth, I call and end to a tyres life before this. That said, it is a tangent for another thread.

EDIT:

I am reminded of a time where I was getting the tyres replaced for someone and when I got the car back, they missed the note I made that I wanted the new tyres to go to the rear with the old rears moved to the front. Very healthy tread on the old rears. When I raised this and said that I wanted them swapped before I take the car back, he asked why so I asked why should the most tread be on the front. "That is how we have always done it" was the best he could give me.

The only time I would go against this mindset would be if there was snow and the fronts didn't have enough tread to cope. I always run snow rated tyres but I have never had to make that decision, which is handy. Swapping stuff around in the cold doesn't appeal.

Turtle-TM

With regards to there being a completely different tread pattern on both rears, is this a problem? Especially considering the weather recently and I commute 600+km a week

GTE

Turtle-TM wrote: »

With regards to there being a completely different tread pattern on both rears, is this a problem? Especially considering the weather recently and I commute 600+km a week

Wear pattern or tread pattern? For the former, I said that that is a decision to be made yourself but considering your viewpoint was that the fronts were near the end of their life and are now being reused, I would not change that viewpoint. The reason for this in my mind would be going through a large body of standing water on the road and the tyre with less tread possibly being overwhelmed.

If the tread patterns are different, there is a thread on NCT tyre failures recently which sheds more light on that.

pablo128

You do 600 kms a week, the tracking according to you has been off for months, and you're only complaining now because the garage has been at it. Come on now.
As it happens I have worked in plenty of tyre centres. Most of the time if a car is pulling left or right it's a result of tyre pressures being unequal left to right. If the tracking was really off and you've been doing that mileage for months, either the inside or outside of the tyre would be destroyed, and the garage would be glad to take 50 or 60 quid off you for tracking. It sounds like they have been more than fair.

Turtle-TM

pablo128 wrote: »

You do 600 kms a week, the tracking according to you has been off for months, and you're only complaining now because the garage has been at it. Come on now.
As it happens I have worked in plenty of tyre centres. Most of the time if a car is pulling left or right it's a result of tyre pressures being unequal left to right. If the tracking was really off and you've been doing that mileage for months, either the inside or outside of the tyre would be destroyed, and the garage would be glad to take 50 or 60 quid off you for tracking. It sounds like they have been more than fair.

Did I say how long I've been commuting 600km a week? No. I checked the tyre pressures the other week, they were fine on both sides on the front. Both equal.

Supergurrier

Alignment can cost as little as 30 quid, i would leave the tyres as they are so wear is equal on each axle and just go get it done