On a two wheel drive car a single burst tyre is a single tyre. On a four wheel drive one it is a question, and the question is rolling circumference. A part worn tyre has a smaller circumference than a new one of the same size, so it turns more times per mile. Put a fresh tyre on one corner and it is trying to rotate at a different speed to the other three.
The drivetrain absorbs that difference somewhere, and on many systems it goes into a centre differential, a viscous coupling or a clutch pack never meant to work continuously. It heats, it wears, and putting that right is in a different league to a tyre. Which is why manufacturers publish a maximum permitted difference in tread depth across the set.
So on a 4x4 blowout the gauge comes out before the tyre does. If the other three are close to new, one tyre is the honest answer. If they are half worn, it is not, and you hear that at the roadside even though the smaller job would be the easier sale.
The rim is the expensive part, and driving on a burst tyre is how it gets destroyed. We come out to the exact spot, Ladywell or anywhere else in Lewisham, with the right size on the van and fit it there. Pressures set before we leave Hither Green, and the same on the South Circular. A Lee driveway is our workshop, and so is a Blackheath kerb.
Burst tyre replacement in Lewisham is part of our wider 24-hour emergency callout cover. For burst tyre replacement in Lewisham, call 07717 389637 or get a price for your tyre.
Lewisham has a lot of larger cars parked on streets without much room for them, and the kerbs and edges along the A20 High Street and the A21 Lewisham Way are what usually finishes a tyre off. The measuring happens where the car has stopped, with a gauge on all four, before anything goes on the ground.
A 4x4 lost a rear tyre in traffic and the surviving three measured around four millimetres. One new tyre would have left a real mismatch on a car with a coupling that objects to it. We fitted a pair on that axle.
A car near Lee had been through a full set only a few thousand miles earlier. The gauge put the survivors within half a millimetre of new, comfortably inside what the handbook allowed. One replacement, balanced, torqued.
An owner in Hither Green wanted one tyre and was not pleased to be argued with. The figure printed in their own handbook decided it rather than our opinion, and that page is less trouble to read than to ignore.
On a two wheel drive car you usually can, as long as it matches its partner on the same axle. On a permanent four wheel drive car, a new tyre beside three worn ones makes the transmission fight itself continuously. The drivetrain sets the rule, not the tyre.
It comes from the vehicle handbook rather than a general rule, because different systems tolerate very different amounts. Some quote a maximum difference in tread depth, others in circumference. We measure all four and compare against what your car asks for.
Not necessarily. Often a pair on the affected axle brings the set close enough, and that is what we would suggest before anybody talks about four. If the whole set is near the markers, four is genuinely the answer.
It is less critical. A system that drives one axle most of the time and engages the other when it slips has far less to absorb. It is still worth measuring, because front to rear difference is what those systems react to.
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