Two different brands on the same axle is not illegal on an ordinary car, and it is not the crime it gets described as. What the law forbids is mixing construction types on one axle, and that stopped being a live question when cross-ply tyres left normal cars. So if somebody tells you the pair must match because the rules demand it, they are guessing.
Where it genuinely matters is grip balance. The two tyres on an axle brake together and lose grip together, and if one has a soft compound with a lot of wet performance while the other is a hard budget casing, the car stops slightly crooked at the moment you need it not to. That is why we fit in pairs across an axle when the two are noticeably different, and why we do not push anyone into four when only one has failed.
The other direction, front to rear, matters far less on most cars. Size, load index and speed rating have to match the plate regardless of the name on the sidewall.
The tread has probably been telling you for a while. Tell us the size off the sidewall and a time, and the van comes to the car with the tyre, the fitting gear and the balancer on board, to the drive in Yeading or wherever it is parked. Christmas Day in Wood End, any day in Harlington: the line is open. Ring at 3am from Harlington and someone answers; Botwell at noon is no different. An UB3 address in Botwell and one in Yeading are the same round.
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Plenty of cars here arrived at a mismatched set one tyre at a time, bought wherever was open that day, and nobody has looked at all four together since. Ordering to the door makes that easy to put right, because we can see what is on the car before anything is bought, whether that is a drive in Botwell or a workplace bay in UB3.
A car needing one new front had a well worn tyre of a different make on the other side. Replacing only the one would have left that axle mismatched in the wet. Both fronts went on at an address near Hayes End, and the rears were left alone.
A 4x4 with one damaged tyre and three well used ones. On a car driving all four wheels, a large difference in rolling circumference between the axles sets the transmission working against itself. That is where four is the honest answer rather than the profitable one.
A tyre put on elsewhere had its rotation arrow pointing backwards, which throws away most of what that tread pattern does in standing water. It came off and went back on the right way at a workplace in UB3, with the car in its own space.
Not by law on an ordinary car, but they should behave the same, and matching the make and pattern is the simple way to guarantee it. Where an exact match is unavailable we look for similar wet performance and casing stiffness rather than whatever is nearest in size.
Only if the survivor is worn enough or different enough to matter. A nearly new tyre on the other side pairs perfectly well with a new one. A half worn tyre of another make does not, and on the front that is where it shows.
Considerably, and this is where the received wisdom is right. Permanent four wheel drive systems compare how fast the axles turn, so one new tyre against three worn ones leaves a rolling circumference difference the transmission absorbs every mile. We measure all four first.
Much less critical, with one rule worth keeping: if only two are going on, the newer pair belongs on the back. A car with more grip at the front than the rear turns unstable in the wet in a way most drivers cannot correct.
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