My car (MY01 WRX) has been involved in an accident where some
d!ckhead decided to run into the back on me on a motorway, luckily I swerved slightly and he only caught the rear wing.

However, it was a heavy impact but luckily no major chassis damage. Its all being repaired and its all third party liability, so no problems, and the insurnace company has been quite efficient sorting it out

However, the rear tyre was lightly scored by the rear wheel arch being pushed down onto the wheel during the impact.

The engineers report, also endorsed by a safety engineer, has stated, that the rear tyre needs replacing as a precaution for safety reasons - very good so far.

But here's the crowning turd in the water pipe - they are only going to replace the one rear tyre, the garage has told me its going to be a slightly different tread pattern.

I've done 15000 miles on these tryes, the rears are in reasonable condition, but will need replacing quite soon.

I've heard that only replacing 2 (either front or rear) with a slightly different tread pattern can be dangerous, but surely by only replacing 1, must be nothing short of suicidal.

Unfortunatly its not a Subaru garage making the repairs. Its a long story but I work and live in Germany and I have a long term green card for my car while I'm here. The garage doing the repairs is approved by Norwich Union's overseas division - so there's nothing dodgy.

What can I do, can I get Subaru to intervene with the insurance company.

Please please please what are my options?

I have less than 3 weeks until my car is repaired, I need to move fast.

Any advice is appreciated.

If push comes to shove, replace the other one yourself, at least you're getting one for free!!!!

Probably not much of a problem in changing only 1 tyre. When you go round a corner each wheel is loaded differently anyway so why should they all have the same tyre?? Obviously you will get more grip from certain tyres and it is preferable to have the same tyres (at least on each axle anyway) If you can get the insurance company to pay for more than 1 tyre then thats great but I wouldnt worry about it too much. If you are a keen driver then you should know how much grip you have before you are about to lose control of the car. I have had different tyres fitted to different axles for a while. I wouldnt say that I ever felt I would lose the car due to this even pushing hard on a race track. Having 4 of the same tyre on a car and driving around a corner much too fast or braking much too late could also be regarded as suicidal but u dont do that do u?? Anyway, why not just replace it with the same tyre? The insurance company should do that shouldnt they? unless you didnt tell them if you modified the wheels and tyres

SDM, you have a 200bhp-plus performance car, and it should be treated as such. If not by your garage or insurance company, then by you.

Don't fit different tyres to either end or to either side. Sooner rather than later at this time of year, a wet corner will catch you out.

I would also say that if your tyres are the ****e OEM rubber, you have had reasonable service from them. Sling the bl00dy lot and get some quality tyres that will raise your car's handling to a whole new level.

Favourites available today are Goodyear F1 or Toyo T1-S. Go get four. You're going to have to anyway in a couple of thousand miles.

Enjoy :)

Richard.

I can speak from personal experience on this one.....

A few years ago I had a blowout so I asked around and the concensus was to replace a pair - I was a bit concerned that I was wasting money, but I did it. I had the OEM Bridgestone RE010's on the back and put a couple Bridgestone SO2's on the front.

Everything was fine for several months, then one day I was out in the rain - it was the first rain following a long dry spell - and I was coming round a bend at a speed I felt comfortable at - well below what I thought was the limit (it was an exit off the A1 so I was also well under the speed limit). Half way round the fairly tight bend the back end just let go - very fast - I couldn't catch it - and ended up facing the wrong way after having belted the kerb - hard - with the back wheel.

I took a chunk out of the wheel and bent various parts of the rear suspension - but it could have been way way worse !

After that I simply pit it down to some spilt diesel or something on the road - got the car fixed which cost over £2k !

It was a month or so later that I went on the Wetter the Better course on the MIRA wet handling circuit. Don Palmer (the instructor) took my car out for a lap and then asked if I had any tread on the back - I had over 4mm ! The car handled so badly that it was all I could do to get the car round let alone learn anything ! The only person who enjoyed themselves in my car thad day was Simon De Banke because going sideways was especially easy !

I drove home slowly, put on 4 brand new SO2's the following week and returned to MIRA. It was a completely different car and I had a great day out. Thanks to Simon who persuaded Don to give me a nice discount on the second outing !

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense - different tread patterns & rubber compounds will give up grip at different levels. Therefore depending on your driving style you could be fine 99.9% of the time, but when you do hit that limit one set will give up before the others and what is a progressive handling car turns into a snappy monster.

I drive my car sensibly and well within the limits which is one reason it took me so long to realise I had a problem. However, I will never, never mix tyres again and cringe when I see or hear of other people doing it.

What is the point in having a high performance car if you can't trust it ? It really isn't worth saving a few hundred quid IMHO !

If you have to change just one - then it has to be the same tread pattern and preferably similar tread depth. As for the insurance company - a different tyre should be no more acceptable to you than a different coloured panel - OK it does the same job, but does not match !

The purpose of insurance is to put you in the position you were in prior to the accident, not to provide you with three free tyres - the other three are your responsibility!

I'd buy a set of remoulds and hope for the best. I used to run round on slicks on my old XR2. Great fun in the winter.
Glad to still be alive though!

Dave TS - I would agree except for the bit in the original post
I'd reject that using the same logic as a different coloured panel - it does not return the car to the pre-incident state.

Al