Tyre compatibility opinions please!

[Argos69]

Citroen C5 Tourer Exclusive with Bridgestone Weather Control A005 EVO 225/55 R17 tyres being driven by 'er indoors today in France.

Went into badly designed car park. She went into a parking place then said "I'll drive through into the next row". I said "No, stop!", but as I'm generally "wrong", she did it anyway. The rear passenger tyre glanced a kerb and when we got out, a nice 50mm long up to 4mm deep cut in the sidewall!

Now then, many words ensued, during which it was established beyond any reasonable doubt that it was all my fault!

I've always believed in swapping tyres in axle pairs and never buy "cheapies", but New Year finances aren't at their best I'm afraid.

So, some questions if you please:
Am I right in thinking this damage isn't a good thing to repair (4mm deep but no cords visible).
Also, we can't get this particular tyre over here, but we can get a Firestone (same size) 4 Season XL tyre, which has a tread pattern that looks incredibly identical. What do you think?

Thanks in advance!

[mickthemaverick]

My PERSONAL opinion is that tyres should only be swapped in pairs regardless of the cause. If the other rear tyre has good life in it you could retain it as a spare if your spare is worse. As for the Firestones I would be reasonably happy with them on my partner's car!!

[Richard_C]

I'm with Mick on not mixing tyres on the same axle, BUT Bridgestone and Firestone are in the same group and they might even come out of the same factory - the resemblance is uncanny ! So its not as bad as mixing a Pirelli P7 with a LingLong (who? me neither). Compounds might differ though, you would only find out in an extreme situation or with wear rates.

https://www.firestone.fr/voiture-suv-et ... tiseason-2

https://www.bridgestone.fr/pneus-touris ... ntrol/a005

If funds are really tight and its a choice between a mix of outwardly very similar tyres and running on one with a damaged sidewall the mix is a tempting solution but its your (difficult) decision. There's probably loads of people who run on damaged sidewall tyres and never even notice until they get told at MOT time. My neighbour who is far from short of cash relies on his MOT to tell him when his tyres are worn out - if it passes, OK for another 12 months.

My car, like many others, has no spare so if I had serious damage I guess I would be grateful for whatever the breakdown person could rustle up at 2am on a rainy Saturday night - there may be far more "mixed brand axles" these days because of that.

Maybe check that the load ratings are the same (the 97 number or whatever) as well as size and speed ratimg. It looks to me as though Bridgestone does have distributors in France.

Not really relevant now times have moved on and compounds changed, but I ran Firestones on my SAAB 9-5 - 3 sets of I recall in those high mileage years - and put a set on my C5 111. Never had any problems.

[PaulC5]

If the second car and it is not used at high speeds then having different tyres may not be noticed. If finances are bad replace one now and the other a bit later. Often buying more than one tyre gets a discount so you could also see how it compares with buying on a credit card and paying off over a couple of months.

[Sloppysod]

Depends how worn the other tyre is if its really worn then you may get issue with the traction control. But if you do, I would at lease stick to the same make/type.

[Argos69]

I feel there will be many fellow contributors who will think I'm insane, but here goes.

I examined the rear tyre damage with the wheel on and off the car with various poking devices and a magnifier. At no point can you see cords or reinforcing bits. Perhaps it wasn't quite as deep as I'd first thought.

I check with an MOT examiner in the UK who told me the official guidance is not to fail a car if tyre damage does not expose the structural elements.

So I bought a bottle of Loctite 480. This is a specialist adhesive which is black and flexible when set and has a wide temperature range. It's not like superglue, which is brittle. I cleaned the damage with solvent, dried it, then warmed the tyre up before applying the adhesive. I have to say the results are impressive and almost invisible to the naked eye.

I've driven the car both empty and fully loaded up to 80mph (French Motorway) and it all appears to be ok.

We're visiting the UK later this spring and I may treat the old girl to 2 new tyres on the back, but for now...... we'll see.

But the Loctite 480 is very impressive as a good, if pricey, glue!

[PaulC5]

Not something I would do, better to buy a new tyre than risk a repair like this which could fail and result in a crash. An insurance company might not be impressed if it resulted in a crash/claim, never mind any courts you could end up in. Better to spend 100 to 150 euros or whatever a new tyre costs or do not use the car for a while until you can afford one.

You might want to warn passengers about the tyre, you might find they prefer not to be carried.

[PaulC5]

It is over a month since the tyre repair, how has it lasted ?

[Stickyfinger]

It is over a month since the tyre repair, how has it lasted ?

BANG, screech, Oh Sh1T...SMASH !

Bets please....my guess is it is OK

[wurlycorner]

Only just seen this thread. FWIW (no body cares ) my opinions...

I don't mix different tyres or tread depth across the front (powered) axle and try and avoid doing it on the rear - but I also don't lose any sleep if that's necessary on the rear.

I definitely would not go repairing a split, whether on the side wall or in the tread. If a chunk is taken out of the sidewall but nothing structural exposed, then I'll continue to run it on a daily.

And as for changing tyres based on 'date'... Definitely never doing that. Maybe if I have a Bugatti Veyron, but not on anything else - if it's not visibly perished, damaged and has legal tread, then it's good to go (example: My 1983 1st Gen Prelude still has all the original factory tyres and wheel weights on it and they are absolutely fine!)

[Argos69]

Apologies for the delay. I've been travelling back and forth to France and never seemed to get a minute!

Nope, I'm not dead! The repair is still absolutely perfect and the car now has another 1500 miles on the clock. I did actually take the car to an independent tyre specialist in the UK to get a quote for tracking etc and tentatively showed him the repair. He looked at it and prodded it and said "Where did you buy the glue? I'd be happy enough with that".

So, I'm not joining the panic fraternity and keeping it. I reckon the treads'll wear out long before that glue. I think the glue's secret, is that it is black and flexible and heat resistant, so it looks, feels and largely behaves like the tyre. It's also a similar density and hardness - it's nothing like superglue etc.

I remember when bonded windscreens came out and all the miserys said "Dangerous, this'll never work and they'll leak", yet look where we are now. The new electric london taxi is aluminium, glued together. Adhesives have come on so far that they're always worth a look. A perfectly good tyre with lots of tread has been saved from joining the heap of pot hole victims outside a tyre bay.

I can report that Loctite 480 is an absolute b@st@rd to get off your hands though!

Thanks to all for advice and opinions - always welcomed.

[Stickyfinger]

Cover hands in lots of olive oil, apply rubber glove, leave on for an hour..........

[Paul-R]

Is that a quote from the Kama Sutra?

[wurlycorner]

Maybe Sticky's self-penned version...