My 2p - same size, same rating not an issue. Plus the Falkens are a good make.It;s 100% legal and personally I prefer them to Conti's.

If your mixing winter tyres with regular summer (for the want of a better name) thats a no no.

If your mixing radial with crossply (yes I'm old) on the same axle thats a no no.

If they were a different size thats a no no.

if they were a speed rating lower than the OEM requirements thats a no no.

If one was very old and perished then thats a no no

But what you describe is none of the above...been doing the same for years. Even now I'm running three Dunlops and a Goodyear on my XTrail, Used cars are always going to have tyres of different makes and ages. Only the Police change all four tyres if one has a fault, and thats because they aren't paying for them..we are.

If you want to tell your insurer go ahead but I would think they'd simply not care or charge you an Additional Premium because you asked for it..

Thanks for the feed back all.

In terms of the MOT I've basically got another year from now - which is all I wanted.

The plot thickens on this one - I emailed the dealer this morning and said the feedback I got from other people was that to mix a tire brand and a tire age across the same axle is not ideal, is bad practice and certainly not something you'd expect from a ford dealer.

A firm reply came back:

"I am 100% confident that if XXXX, who has been a Ford technician for over 30 years, thinks its ok, then it is - sorry don't mean to be come over blunt, but like I say, many dealerships I know wouldnt even of considered changing the tyre if it was legal, but we are a very fair dealership"

Further on in the email he said something had popped into his head ref the damage underneath the rear bumper

What happened next astounded me.

He called me and admitted he missed the turning to my road when delivering the car reversed into a driveway with a very steep incline and that is maybe how the damage occurred - he then offered to repair the damage and fit another Faulken at cost price (£100) so the tires across the same axle match.

None of this makes any sense - we have a very experienced technican who has changed a Continental sport contact 2 tyre with 12K miles on it because he considered it "a bit low". Unless Michael Schumacher's been driving this car I would expect the tire to last 25K miles and when I examined said tire before the test drive it was deep tread all across. This same technician also says its fine to mix tyres. I have a very sheepish salesman with a cock and bull story about a steep driveway. The whole thing stinks.

I think it went a little like this:

Sometime before delivery the car hit a kerb at speed, wrecked the tyre, damaged the alloy and scraped the underside of the bumper. Solution: wack a new cheaper Faulken on and hope the customer doesn't question it.

Of course I can't prove that and have signed for the car......

I'm tempted to take the hit pay 100 quid to match up the rear tires at least and get on with my life.