Assuming you're UK in a RHD, FWD car, I'd suggest swapping the front wheels, as the engine and you are on the RH side giving maximum mass. The 'grippiest' (is that a word) tyre would then give maximum benefit on the lightest side.

Thanks for the tip on tyre revivers. Spoke to them and they put me intouch with another closer company. The tyre has gone off for repar.

As it will be out for a week I need to get out in the freezing weather and swap one of the rear winters onto the front. Brrrrrrrr

Thanks for the tip about Tyre Revivers, saved me the cost of a new tyre. I spoke to them and as they are not close they recomended a similar company (Meridian) in Bristol. The tyre is now back having been repaired. Despite slowly revolving the tyre many times I can't find the repair so can't fault it.

Having now had some snow the winter tyres have proved their worth. They managed to pull me up a 16% hill and made my commute home on un-gritted country roads pretty uneventfull. Some reviews of the Nokians suggest they don't corner that well in snow, which seems to match my experience but I have not used any other winter tyres to compare them against. The mondeo was useless in the snow last year on summer tyres, struggling for grip on even the slightest incline, but now I don't need to worry too much where I take it.

Thanks for the responses.

I too understand the problem, especially as I have a 4x4, where the manual explicity mentions the need for the tyres to be matched. Indeed the manual recommends rotating the tyres every 3000 miles - the fronts wear at twice the rate of the rears.

I went for all season tyres with snowflake markings as my everyday tyre - but there was a 6 week delay getting them in my size as they only come in in batches.

I bought an additional spare wheel - so I have six wheels, and I swp the front two (only) with my two spares every 6000 miles or so. This means that even if I destroy one tyre (I do some off roading, so the chances are increased) I still have 5 matched tyres. I know this is the expensive way of doing things, but I'll be keeping the 4x4 long term, it makes tyre rotation easy and I'm actually using the spare(s).

would`nt worry about the speed rating??? If you haad to make a claim on your motor insurance you`d worry then !

The wrong speed rating on a tyre would be a heaven sent reason for the insurance company to refuse to entertain your claim. That is one of the first things that is checked !