I am looking for advice on tyre replacement on a Toyota RAV4 which is four years old and has completed 40 000km.

A friend wanted to replace a tyre on her RAV4, however the dealer told her that she had to replace all four tyres at a time as recommended by Toyota, otherwise it would damage the transmission. Is this correct?

They also told her that the tyres are runflats. Eventually they convinced her to replace five tyres at the same time.

My question. Why is it absolutely essential to replace five tyres? If they are runflats, why is the vehicle carrying a spare?

[Johann Viljoen]

Johann Viljoen on 27th Jun 2018 at 12:48 pm

According to Toyota South Africa, the RAV4 was never sold with runflat tyres, though this doesn’t mean that the previous owner of the car didn’t fit them.

That being said, there is no reason to replace all four tyres when only one was punctured as the spider gears in differentials will compensate for the very small differences in rolling diameter without being damaged.

That said, it’s best to put the new tyre on the back as two front tyres with different amounts of wear may cause the car to pull to one side.