It's perfectly safe, it has absolutely no issue for MOT regulations, and will not get you stopped by the Police, or get them insisting you drive no further. The tyres are narrower, but relatively taller. The sizes are described as a percentage, relative to a ratio between the width and height. So your originals are 185mm wide, with a sidewall (rubber side of the tyre) at 55% of that, i.e. 101.75mm. The new tyres are 175mm wide, with a sidewall height of 113mm. Not in itself a great issue. The only issue you may have, is that the Peugeot wheel had a slightly larger spigot, and normally, the hub rests inside this hole This is one of the ways it bears the load. As for now, the centre hole/hub is not bearing any of the load, but the wheel nuts are. I used Peugeot wheels for many years on a Ford Sierra Estate , which had similar differences in offsets (You describe the wheel sticking out more) and used it in anger as a trackday car, and as a load carrying road weapon!! (2.1 Pinto running twin 45DCOE carbs.... not a shopping trolley) Your speedo may under read slightly, but as standard, they do over read slightly too....) Edited to add... You lot... it's not being presented for MOT. Go look in the boots of your cars.... space saver spare? That's all it is..... obviously it's going to be replaces very soon. It's NOT illegal. Vauxhall supplied this kind of combination on their new cars until very recently, eventually just supplying a tin of sealant instead..... Sheesh.
BTW I'm a Class 4 MOT Tester at a Main Dealer, On Site Quality Controller, and keen on modifying cars to make them more fun. I do these things for a living, and have done for over 30 years. I also campaign Land Rovers in Off Road competitions, and changing wheels to give greater offset and better steering angles is one of the first modifications. And I'm not dead yet because of it.
If one tyre is of a different nominal size or aspect ratio to any other on the same axle it will fail MOT
Anything protruding the wheel arch could be deemed as unsafe
That is definitely a safety problem. If I understand you correctly, you have it on the front - two different tyres/wheels on the front is seriously dangerous, and it's also dangerous on the back because it wrecks the roadholding ability (increased tendency to lose control on corners).
If you took that car for an MOT, it would not pass. If you happened to get stopped by the police, they would insist that you did not drive it any further, as you are a danger to other road users.
If this is on the same axle then its crazy and ilgal to boot. All tyres on a car should be the same size. Years ago people used to mix cross ply with radials, there were and still are some crazy people out there.
MOT failure and unroadworthy too.
Hi,
Just replaced a 14 inch alloy wheel and tyre on my ford Fiesta MK4 with a wheel from a Peugot 306. Its still a 14inch wheel but the tyre is 175/65/R14 instead of 185/55/R14 that all my other wheels are. I know that different rim sizes can damage the car but the wheel is the same size, just the tyre different. Is this safe to drive or does tyre need replacing to match the other ones (or other side (front)) at least.
Also, The new wheel, although same 14inch size is actually a lot bigger and doesn't sit so deep in the screw holes so the wheel is more prominant that the rest. Still plenty of thread and nuts bolted on very tightly but does look a bit odd. Still safe? Any advice appreciated.
