different size tyres on same axle

[sandy wooldridge]

Can anyone give me some advice;
bought a mercedes second hand from our local vauxhall network q dealership january last year.
car looked fine under my inspection. although after first wash noticed heavy front bonnet chipping which wasn't eveident at the time but thats another story.

on completion of purchase full MOT and a minor service was undertaken by them and passed...
12 months later lo and behold failed MOT
reason wrong tyres on same rear axle
wrong width and height and speed
rear tyres 1 was 245/40R17 V 90 and correct
the other was 225/45R17 V 90 and incorrect

so went back to vauxhall and explained.. after some deliberation they came back to me and said they would replace the offending tyre..great but really need to replace both now as the one correct tyre is in need of replacing.

Dilema: should I push the envelope and insist they replace both tyres. on the basis that i have effectively been driving an illegal car for the past 12 months unbeknown to me, and as their MOT passing station effectively passed a car that is uninsureable in the event of a crash.

Now I am knowingly driving this car in this position...

should I push the envelope????
not much good at this kind of thing ...but sick and tired of coming off second best..cheers

 

[television]

In all fairness, take the one and be happy with that,you have 12 months driving from it.

The difference in the riding height of the car was only 3mm and the width of the tyre only 20mm difference.

It was not a too dangerous thing, nothing has happened, and it hypothetical as to what could have.

It is an easy mistake

 

[sandy wooldridge]

thanks malcom for that
i guess it would not have harmed a) the handling
b) the fuel consumption
c) the uneven wear ????
thanks

 

[Mark A]

I would take their kind offer.

Some garages I have had the misfortune to deal with would simply say - prove that it was like that when we sold it to you.

I once had that with a garage in Fraserburgh when they sold me a car with 6 months tax, and after a month when washing the car I noticed that the reg no. was not the same as my car - even trading standards were a complete total and utter waste of my time (oxygen thieves comes to mind), as they also said prove it. But I have told everybody I know and nobody has been back.

 

[television]

thanks malcom for that
i guess it would not have harmed a) the handling
b) the fuel consumption
c) the uneven wear ????
thanks

It would not have done any of those things, re the uneven wear what is happening there

 

[sandy wooldridge]

i dont know if its heartening or not.. to hear it would seem 80% of people sharing a common disgruntled veiw of the service industry... thinking all the time well if i did that id be fired....
same with insurance companies today dealing with
daughter had car written off only a little hyundai getz 54 plate bought for 4350
written off at 2570 in 2.5 yrs no recourse of action and shes the innocent party. cant finf like for like for less tha 3k
something stinks eh??????

 

[sandy wooldridge]

uneven wear!!! guess that was me being alarmist and a glimmer of hope.
but the correct tyre has worn pretty quickly

 

[television]

Lets say that the previous owner damaged a wheel, and went to a breaker and bought one. and he put it on the car, Now in all of my 468 cars that I have owned have I ever gone round making sure that the tyres were all correct at the time of buying the car. The dealer would have walked around looking at how much tread was left and thats all.

I know how you feel about the service industry, and I cannot afford to make on error in what I do

 

[kth286]

As for the daughter's car all you have to do is show Ins co the adverts for like cars and therefore prove to them you cannot replace like for like and they WILL up their offer.

You should never accept the first offer an ins co makes.

It happens all the time.

You do have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman and tell them that also.

 

[bigasotonuk]

Hi
I would be getting them to check the width of the wheels all round on your car too, as the tyre sizes you quoted are normally associated with front and rear, and Mercedes wheels can be different widths front and rear.
It might be a front wheel (narrower) that you have fitted to the rear, proper rear could be on the front, or you could be running with 3 front wheels on the car. Settle with the one tyre, but absolutely insist that the other ones are checked out with the "wheel width" in mind.

 

[jberks]

Hi
I would be getting them to check the width of the wheels all round on your car too, as the tyre sizes you quoted are normally associated with front and rear, and Mercedes wheels can be different widths front and rear.
It might be a front wheel (narrower) that you have fitted to the rear, proper rear could be on the front, or you could be running with 3 front wheels on the car. Settle with the one tyre, but absolutely insist that the other ones are checked out with the "wheel width" in mind.

Very good point - well worth checking out. It makes sense if someone has swapped a wheel over without thinking and you will have the wrong size alloy to go with your wrong tyre.

I might try it on and ask them to contribute to the other tyre as a goodwill gesture (even as a try on asking for 100% on a 12 month older tyre is unfair) but to be fair if they resisted I'd back off as after a year they really didn't need to do anything so they're already behaing in a surprisingly and refreshingly reputable manner.

 

[stuartmac]

Hi Sandy,

daughter had car written off only a little hyundai getz 54 plate bought for 4350
written off at 2570 in 2.5 yrs no recourse of action and shes the innocent party. cant finf like for like for less tha 3k

all you have to do is show Ins co the adverts for like cars and therefore prove to them you cannot replace like for like and they WILL up their offer.

You do have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman and tell them that also.

From experience, I'm partially in agreement with David.

Firstly, if your daughter's "the innocent party", her insurance company shouldn't be writing her car off, unless that's what the third party's insurance have offered. If that's the case, first thing I'd try is a quiet word with the claim handler's manager, asking why the company isn't acting in your daughter's best interests?

Otoh, if her insurance company is being useless (not unknown in the British motor insurance industry ), as David suggests, a word with the Financial Ombudsman Service will get you very good advice. I followed this course of action about eighteen months ago when my insurance company wouldn't offer me a reasonable settlement for my '88 W124 diesel estate; I eventually got what I wanted.

Then bear in mind that, if there's a third party who's at fault, legally that's who your daughter's claim is against - her insurer and the third party's insurer are simply agents. If she's out of pocket, she should issue a small claims court summons against the third party - contact your local County Court and (if my experience is anything to go by) the staff will virtually bend over backwards to help, although the application is simple.

Finally, did you daughter buy her insurance through a broker? If she did, the broker should also be rattling cages on her behalf.

Hth.

Regards,

 

[busby20]

Hi
I would be getting them to check the width of the wheels all round on your car too, as the tyre sizes you quoted are normally associated with front and rear, and Mercedes wheels can be different widths front and rear.
It might be a front wheel (narrower) that you have fitted to the rear, proper rear could be on the front, or you could be running with 3 front wheels on the car. Settle with the one tyre, but absolutely insist that the other ones are checked out with the "wheel width" in mind.

When I bought my SLK from a dealer a few years ago I decided to replace the 2 rear tyres with better and bigger tyres as I wasn't happy with the overall handling especially round bends.

I got the tyres sent directly from an internet dealer to a local tyre dealer who duly fitted them. A few weeks later I bought little chrome caps for the wheel holes, and when I went to fit them I found out that one of the rear wheels (which the new tyre had been fitted to) was in fact a front wheel ! I had to go to another tyre dealer and get them to change the tyres around to the correct wheels - what a differance to the handling this made!

So, to sum up, the original people who fitted the original tyres made a mistake, the dealer never noticed it, I never noticed it, the people who fitted the new tyres didn't notice it - and it did make a big differance to the handling! so, always check your wheels and tyres as in the words of the law "ignorance is no defence"

 

[drivinggod09]

a mechanic once told me you should only really change the drive wheels tyres in pairs for some reason sounds like sense dont know if its true or not