Evening.
As with many VW's, owners have different size tyres on the front axle and the rear axle. So this makes spare tyres slightly more awkward.
You could either carry two spares. One for the front and one for the rear. But when space is limited, often the spare is midway between the front tyre size and the rear tyre size.
So my question is to you gearbox folk. Does driving with slightly different tyre sizes damage the gearbox? I assume its a bit like continually driving around a corner as far as the gearbox is concerned if you were going slow speeds / short distances. But what if you had to drive 50 miles to get to a tyre shop with the correct size in stock? Would that damage the gearbox?
Thanks
Effect of different size tyres across an axle?
- vwjim
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- Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2002 12:01 am
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- Posts: 17730
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Re: Effect of different size tyres across an axle?
Up-date:
A very good question and my very quick answer: it can be dangerous especially when stopping. Two different diameter tyres allows one tyre to try to stop rotating (trying to lock up) before the other then add to that the width difference (foot print) that also may get involved. The rotating dia. of the two tyres will be different. Also the material and tread patterns in different brands of tyre can cause problems also.
In ways it also kind of like running radial tyres mixed in with bias-ply tyres.
An "open diff" will allow a certain amount of the tyre rotation difference when going around a corner but it but it isn't recommended. A locked diff. or one with a "limited slip" type of setup the two different dia. or the other things I mentioned can cause the car handling problems. It also can be hard on the internal differential component parts and possibility to the trans itself.
People (not always understanding) have been making this mistake for years but it is not something I would recommend for any time or other than a short distance to get things fixed. Do a couple of on-line searches using different dialogues and you will find a lot more detail info on this question plus other opinions on the subject.
Lee
A very good question and my very quick answer: it can be dangerous especially when stopping. Two different diameter tyres allows one tyre to try to stop rotating (trying to lock up) before the other then add to that the width difference (foot print) that also may get involved. The rotating dia. of the two tyres will be different. Also the material and tread patterns in different brands of tyre can cause problems also.
In ways it also kind of like running radial tyres mixed in with bias-ply tyres.
An "open diff" will allow a certain amount of the tyre rotation difference when going around a corner but it but it isn't recommended. A locked diff. or one with a "limited slip" type of setup the two different dia. or the other things I mentioned can cause the car handling problems. It also can be hard on the internal differential component parts and possibility to the trans itself.
People (not always understanding) have been making this mistake for years but it is not something I would recommend for any time or other than a short distance to get things fixed. Do a couple of on-line searches using different dialogues and you will find a lot more detail info on this question plus other opinions on the subject.
Lee
- vwjim
- Posts: 389
- Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2002 12:01 am
Re: Effect of different size tyres across an axle?
Thanks Lee.
Yes, certainly the plan would be just to get off the motorway to a safe point, to then start calling around to see who's got some tyres in stock.
Regards,
Jim
Yes, certainly the plan would be just to get off the motorway to a safe point, to then start calling around to see who's got some tyres in stock.
Regards,
Jim