I've just had the bad luck of getting a puncture that was not safely repairable in my Subaru's winter tyres, which as it's permanently in 4x4 means I had to replace all four tyres. Fortunately, I had the summers to put on, it's the end of March, and the winters were ageing anyway (a bit like me!).

Got me thinking. My wife has a Karoq 4x4. Obviously, a Haldex system isn't permanently in 4x4 drive. But, If she was unfortunate enough to be in the same position, with a puncture in one tyre that wasn't repairable, would she have to replace all four tyres too, or just the two on the effected axles?

I've tried to find reference to this in the owner's manual, but couldn't find any information. I seem to recall that when I had both of my two Yets, over 10 years ago now, there had been something similar then. Maybe the haldex system is more advanced now?

You'd be best checking and cross-referencing answers with other Karoq 4x4 owners, a good specialist tyre fitting place, VWŠkoda (somehow).

My thoughts might be wrong so need checking, but @Carlston might know better. It might depend on how old and worn tread the other three tyres are compared to the new fresh replacement. If part-time 4x4 then generally it might be at worse changing both tyres on the axle with the tyre that needs replacement, or if the unaffected tyre on that axle isn't very old and not much tread wear, and wear even across the tread, then perhaps only the one tyre is needed. Permanent 4x4 would be get away with one or need all four, I'd guess. But if you really need the 4x4 facility, if only occasionally, you might be better not risking anything on your wife's car and fitting four new fresh tyres rather than you getting the blame if changing only one or two tyres and then your wife had issues using the 4x4, or lend her the Subaru and you wade through with the Karoq.

You should really replace all four, but Haldex can cope with differences across the axles IIRC. That being said, it has to be within reasonable tolerance. I don't think it matters about the same axle, as the power is only split between the front and rear. E.G. my vRS needs to have the same on the front axle with the LSD, but the back is irrelevant.

AFAIK generally at the front you want same for one side as the other for suspension including tyres, and same with rear one side to the other, unless you're doing some specialist thing other than normal road driving.

Personally, being a fairly low milage driver nowadays Then it's always all 4 as by the time they are worn they are also old. Generally speaking tyres should be replaced between 6 and 10 years old even if they are not worn to the legal limit of tread.

We have a 4x4 in the garage and that always has all 4 done at the same time. As a minimum I'd do the pair on an axle unless they were very new when the puncture occurred.

You can tell the age of the tyre by looking at the 4 digit code on the sidewall. It's just 4 numbers, the first 2 are week no, and the last 2 are year. (1226 - this would mean made in week 12 of 2026)

Michelin have RFID,s implanted into tyres at manufacture now for their sake in handling, stock, traceability for scrappage / recycling. There are TPMS,s now that can identify the tyres with the RFID.

I know this is an older thread.

With the Gen 1 Haldex which had a hydraulic pressure control ALL FOUR tyres should have been roughly the same diametre or the Haldex could fail.

From Gen 2 onwards the Haldex was electronically controlled and it was not susceptible to tyre differences. The current version on a Karoq is Gen 5. This is a slightly simplified Gen 4 clutch where they dropped the filter.

The bottom line is that you can change single tyres.

8 minutes ago, 26DIPP said:

I know this is an older thread.

With the Gen 1 Haldex which had a hydraulic pressure control ALL FOUR tyres should have been roughly the same diametre or the Haldex could fail.

From Gen 2 onwards the Haldex was electronically controlled and it was not susceptible to tyre differences. The current version on a Karoq is Gen 5. This is a slightly simplified Gen 4 clutch where they dropped the filter.

The bottom line is that you can change single tyres.

I beleive that while you can change a single tyre on a car, of any make or drive, it is always beat practise to replace tyres in pairs on the same axle for safety reasons, especially for a 4x4 like the Skoda Karoq, to ensure balanced grip and handling. Replacing just one tyre can lead to uneven performance and potential safety issues.

57 minutes ago, Ooopnorth said:

I beleive that while you can change a single tyre on a car, of any make or drive, it is always beat practise to replace tyres in pairs on the same axle for safety reasons, especially for a 4x4 like the Skoda Karoq, to ensure balanced grip and handling. Replacing just one tyre can lead to uneven performance and potential safety issues.

What he said. While modern AWD systems can easily cope with differences in tyres (Haldex, Torsen, xDrive, 4MATIC, PTM, Magna, etc) it’s always best practice to keep things as similar as possible.

This isn’t just for safety and symmetry with regard to grip, but also for making the system work less. Think of it this way - the system already works hard enough to put the power down evenly, depending on which wheel has the most traction, etc - why make it work even harder by having different tyres with different levels of grip, etc?

As a rule of thumb, new tyres should always be fitted on the same axle, unless the “old” tyre is the same brand and in almost new condition. New tyres should always be fitted to the rear of the vehicle.

This sounds like scaremongering.

With normal use you will have slightly more wear on different tyres unless you religously swap wheels round very regularly.

Yes it can be dangerous if one tyre on an axle is brand new and the other only has 2mm. i.e. above wear limit.

New tyres should ideally be on the REAR axle as this axle looses grip first in extreme situations - hard breaking on wet surface or hard cornering.

If I have a nail in the tyre and it cannot be patched it is not recommended to replace all 4 tyres if the others still have e.g. 4mm. You can do this of course if you want to spend £600 to £1000 for quality tyres. Chinese ditch finders may be cheaper.

The Karoq 4x4 is not a performance car and can easily handle one new tyre as long as the others are still fine.

10 minutes ago, 26DIPP said:

This sounds like scaremongering.

With normal use you will have slightly more wear on different tyres unless you religously swap wheels round very regularly.

Yes it can be dangerous if one tyre on an axle is brand new and the other only has 2mm. i.e. above wear limit.

New tyres should ideally be on the REAR axle as this axle looses grip first in extreme situations - hard breaking on wet surface or hard cornering.

If I have a nail in the tyre and it cannot be patched it is not recommended to replace all 4 tyres if the others still have e.g. 4mm. You can do this of course if you want to spend £600 to £1000 for quality tyres. Chinese ditch finders may be cheaper.

The Karoq 4x4 is not a performance car and can easily handle one new tyre as long as the others are still fine.

From the Karoq Skoda manual.

"Wheel changes. For uniform wear on all

tyres, we recommend that you change the

wheels every 10,000 km according to the schedule. Advice for tyre assembly.

› With directional tires, the correct direction of rota-

tion must be observed. The direction of rotation of

the tyres is marked by arrows on the wall of the

tyre.

› Always replace the tyres by the axle."

But hey, what do Skoda and practically every other car manufacturer and tyre fitting company know about it? You do what you think is right for your own safety and that of all your family!

19 hours ago, 26DIPP said:

This sounds like scaremongering.

With normal use you will have slightly more wear on different tyres unless you religously swap wheels round very regularly.

Yes it can be dangerous if one tyre on an axle is brand new and the other only has 2mm. i.e. above wear limit.

New tyres should ideally be on the REAR axle as this axle looses grip first in extreme situations - hard breaking on wet surface or hard cornering.

If I have a nail in the tyre and it cannot be patched it is not recommended to replace all 4 tyres if the others still have e.g. 4mm. You can do this of course if you want to spend £600 to £1000 for quality tyres. Chinese ditch finders may be cheaper.

The Karoq 4x4 is not a performance car and can easily handle one new tyre as long as the others are still fine.

As I said, you don't need to replace both tyres if the other is in good, new condition. I don't know about you, but my tyres wear pretty evenly on both axles - anything else is an alignment issue.

The reason for putting new tyres on the rear of the car is not because it loses grip first, but rather because of the event losing grip at the rear causes. Understeer is reasonably predictable and straightforward to recover. Oversteer, on the other hand, can be sudden and is much more difficult for the average driver to recover from. I've done my ARDS course, along with a few other things, and would far rather understeer than the snap oversteer my vRS exhibits at the limit.

The Karoq is indeed not a performance vehicle, but driving through standing water at 70mph on a soaking wet motorway, I know which tyres I'd rather have.

As with everything, every example is unique and requires the application of common sense. The general rule of thumb, as I said above, is to not mix tyre brands, types or wear, and to fit new tyres to the rear axle.

As above, generally my fronts wear quickest so when it comes the time to replace them, the rears go on the front and the new ones go on the rear. I want the front to give way first so the best tyres go at the back.

Always the same make/model and only ever the 2 on the same axle. That is entirely my choice based on what I choose to believe etc. Each to their own and live and let live etc

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by travs

5 minutes ago, travs said:

As above, generally my fronts wear quickest so when it comes the time to replace them, the rears go on the front and the new ones go on the rear. I want the front to give way first so the best tyres go at the back.

Always the same make/model and only ever the 2 on the same axle. That is entirely my choice based on what I choose to believe etc. Each to their own and live and let live etc

If you've the time, and facilities, it's worth switching you tyres front to rear regularly (say every 6 - 7,000 miles). Tyre wear varies from wheel to wheel. This maximise the life of each tyre and ensure that the tyres wear uniformly.

For uni-directional tyres, it's rears to fronts and fronts to rear - keeping the tyres on the same side.

If you've got non-directional tyres you can cross the rears as you move them to the front (OR to NF, and NR to OF), but keep the fronts on the same side as you move them to the rear (OF to OR, NF to NR).

As you say "Each to their own and live and let live etc", but you've got to 'live' to achieve that (as do your passengers, family members and other road users!). Tyres are arguable the most important safety equipment on any vehicle.

Rear tyres that have taken a shape can be hopeless moved to the front. Steering, braking, traction at the front is pretty damn essential. Try controlling back end or front end when the tyres are crap and should be scrapped. Real world, real rain, cold roads, Snow, FWD or RWD or 4x4 or part time AWD.