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Does anyone know if it is legal to have front offside tyre in winter variety and front near side in 'summer' variety?
Rear two in this case also 'summer' type tyres (non-winter might be a better description).
Similar tread designs all round in this case.
I can't see great outcomes if heavy braking, especially in the wet, is needed but I'm interested only in legality rather than performance.
Ta
I think it’s only illegal to mix radial with cross-plys - not that that happens anymore!
Can’t run tyres that are the wrong size or speed rating for the car either
No, not illegal assuming both radials (surprisingly) but certainly not advisable.
For a short journey to get out of trouble possibly a bit like using a space saver but personally I would change as soon as possible.
Probably a non issue these days with things like traction control, abs and stability programmes.
For info, this is on a hire car (quite a premium one) that I discovered once well away from the depot. If legal then OK but still seems unsafe to me.
Thanks for the clarifications
Hire car you say - burn-outs until they are slicks then! 🤣🛞🔥
They should both be exactly the same size though i.e 195/55/R15
I doubt it's illegal. I strongly suspect it's stupid.
What prompted you to check?
Not illegal per-se, but very bad practice.
Even more so with modern cars, that might have active AWD systems, differentials, and other active controls etc.
The control system is expecting the same grip, so if you've got one half worn Matador ditch finder on one axle, and a conti exreme contact sport on the other... well, you can see where I'm going here...
Into a tree.
Technology has moved on faster than legislation can keep up with.
What is offside and nearside?
I usually have mismatched front tyres. Just end up getting the best value at the time.
Nearside = near kerb
Offside = near centre of road.
I think 🤔
Nearside = near kerb
Offside = near centre of road.
So nearside is the left of the car, until you're in the 2nd lane of a dual carriageway, then the nearest kerb is the right side of the car?
Also in a right hand drive car (so the norm in the UK) the nearest side is the right of the car since you sit on the right.
No wonder there's so many accidents now days. When I learned to drive it was just left or right.
When I learned to drive it was just left or right.
Bloody hell, how old are you?? I've been driving over 40 years and have always understood the near-side/off-site concept! 😉
When I used to be a Motorsport shell builder it was always left and right, obvious when you base it on driver position.
No wonder there’s so many accidents now days. When I learned to drive it was just left or right.
It's a more reliable way of identify parts of the car and I'm sure driving instructors use it all the time!
Imagine going into a garage, asking for a tyre to be replaced, and they say which one, and you look at it car and say 'the left front'. But you are looking at the car from the front so give them the wrong side. It also removes confusion arising from left hand drive cars where you might tell the garage to replace the driver side front tyre.
It's also why boats use port and starboard, potential for error using left and right.
Bends are left-hand and right-hand, positioning the car for those bends is nearside and offside. Simples 🙂
spooky_b329
It’s also why boats use port and starboard, potential for error using left and right.
There used to be 3 words for the left side of a boat, but only one for the right. And the word starboard stopped making sense when they started fitting rudders on the centreline of vessels.
starboard stopped making sense when they started fitting rudders on the centreline of vessels.
Yes but centreline rudders made the waves come alive so only luddites stuck with steering boards 🙂
The left side of a car is always the left, and right is always the right.just like a humans left hand is on their left side. Doesn't matter how you look at it or which side of the car you sit on.
Nearside and offside seems to have many variables.
Learned to drive in 2001 and never heard nearside or offside. Maybe they stopped using those terms for a while around that time. Just seems an odd concept.
Bends are left-hand and right-hand, positioning the car for those bends is nearside and offside. Simples 🙂
So if you're going round a right turn in the right hand lane of a dual carriageway and the curb is closest to the right, the nearside becomes the right not left?
just like a humans left hand is on their left side.
This goes ambiguous as soon as people are facing each other. You've never heard anyone ask, "my left or your left?"
Here's a photo my uncle George; left is auntie Celia. The photo shows a bloke with a woman either side of him, which one is Celia?
Learned to drive in 2001 and never heard nearside or offside.
I learned to drive in 1990 and it's been standard terminology for as long as I've been driving. Have you never had a service or an MOT? "Advisory: NSF tyre near wear limit" and suchlike on the report? I handed back a lease car last year and it's how they referred to a scratch on the door.
Why I don't know, it makes little sense to me either, but it's not new and it's not gone away. It's probably something to do with horses.
So if you’re going round a right turn in the right hand lane of a dual carriageway and the curb is closest to the right, the nearside becomes the right not left?
That's not the kerb, it's the central reservation.
In any case, the terminology is not situational. I'm a car park, now what?
Back to the topic of mixed Summer and Winter tyres on the same axle, it's not illegal, but strongly not recommended. I would expect some issue's with your insurance if you are involved in an accident.
I have seasonally switched between winters and performance summer tyres on a sharp handling hot hatch and the grip difference between the two in some conditions is night and day. Particularly on cold slippery roads but also noticeably different everywhere else. It may not be illegal but it would be considerably daft to mix summer and winter on the same axle, and it is not true that modern traction systems can overcome this - some high performance cars specify all tyres on each corner must be the same for the systems to work properly. The same systems that would kick in if you had to an emergency stop however carefully you're driving. If it's a hire car I'd point it out on return and ask for a discount as their negligence has put your safety at risk.
When I was a new driver I put mismatched tyres on my car, and the first time I went around a roundabout (in damp winter conditions) I ended up oversteering and facing the wrong way. Not something I was used to it being a FWD car! This was way before stability control etc.
I got the newer ones put on the back, turns out they weren't as grippy as the fronts.
The left side of a car is always the left, and right is always the right.just like a humans left hand is on their left side. Doesn’t matter how you look at it or which side of the car you sit on.
If you're standing in front of the car and noticed that there's an intermittent problem with the left hand sidelight bulb, which side to you tell the mechanic to replace? Thats why using handed sides as descriptors for any vehicle is confusing, so avoided.
I wasn't quite expecting so much interest in 'my left' 'your left' but anyway...
I took the car back, they took it seriously and said that they wouldn't let it go out again in that condition and I believe them. They use external contractors for tyres and seemed unaware of the mis-match. Safer for the next hirer anyway.
I think it’s only illegal to mix radial with cross-plys – not that that happens anymore!
There is/was a legal way of combining them, which i just looked up - radials on the back crossplies on the front, must be same type side to side.
Here’s a photo my uncle George; left is auntie Celia. The photo shows a bloke with a woman either side of him, which one is Celia?
The one on the left, you just said.
So do I become right handed when I'm facing you but am left handed when facing the same direction ? Absofhookinglootelynot.
Left and right are nice and easy to understand. It's just people wanting to make life unnecessary harder by not speaking plain English.
So do I become right handed when I’m facing you but am left handed when facing the same direction?
It's not about you, it's about the description of the car 🙂
The Highway Code uses left and right, e.g. when passing another car while turning right at crosssroads, "turn right side to right side; keep the other vehicle on your right and turn behind it."
The IAM will use nearside and offside as well because that's what's in Roadcraft
Left and right are nice and easy to understand.
Except when you change perspective. Hence nearside and offside (relative to the normal road position).
We do it with pumps and motors as well, drive end and non-drive end. On pipework it would be upstream or downstream (or suction and discharge). Nice and clear and lets people quickly find issues.