Four wheel drive and all wheel drive cars have a rule that ordinary cars do not, and it catches people out when one tyre fails. Because the drivetrain is permanently linking the axles, all four tyres need to be rolling at very nearly the same rate. Put one brand new tyre on a car whose other three are half worn and the new one, being a few millimetres larger in radius, turns slightly slower than the rest. The centre differential or the coupling then spends every mile absorbing that difference, and on some cars that is an expensive component doing something it was not designed to do continuously.
Some manufacturers publish a maximum tread depth difference across the car, often only a couple of millimetres. So on an urgent job, the sensible thing is to gauge the other three before fitting anything and tell you what the numbers actually are. Sometimes the answer is that one new tyre is perfectly fine. Sometimes it is that a pair, or a closely matched tread depth, is the cheaper choice in the long run. Either way you hear the reasoning before the wheel goes back on rather than after.
When a tyre is finished, the useful question is how quickly you can be legal again. We answer it by bringing the replacement to you in Reading instead of asking you to drive to it, which matters when the tyre in question is split, shredded or down past the wear bars. Name Woodley or Whitley, name the A4, and we have you. Wheel off in Lower Earley, tyre off in Caversham, balanced on the M4. Old tyres leave Tilehurst, Earley and Berkshire with us, every time.
Emergency tyre replacement in Reading is part of our wider 24-hour emergency callout cover. For emergency tyre replacement in Reading, call 07717 389637 or send us your details for a price.
The commute around Reading runs on cars that cover serious motorway mileage, and plenty of them drive all four wheels. Fitting one tyre without looking at the other three is how an urgent job creates a much bigger bill later. The depths get gauged, the numbers get shared, and then the correct tyre goes on where the car is standing, balanced and torqued on the spot.
A four wheel drive car in Caversham needed one tyre urgently and had three at half tread. The depths were gauged first and the owner made an informed choice.
A failure between junctions with the car pulled well clear. Correct size fitted at the roadside, balanced there, and the tread depths of the other three noted for the owner.
A driver in Lower Earley chose to do the axle rather than the corner, once the difference in rolling radius had been explained rather than assumed.
It can. A larger radius on one corner means it turns slower than the others, and the drivetrain absorbs that difference constantly. Many manufacturers set a limit on the allowable difference.
The handbook usually says, and a permanent four wheel drive or all wheel drive badge is the clue. It is checked and explained before anything is fitted.
Then one goes on and you know what you have chosen. The point is having the numbers rather than being sold a set by default.
Yes, and the pressures too. It takes a minute and it is often the most useful part of the visit.
Only somewhere genuinely safe and well clear of moving traffic. Get out of the way first, and the fitter will tell you honestly if the spot will not do.
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