If you have a blowout, can you replace just the bad tire? Or do you need to replace both of the tires on the axle? I vaguely remember someone (probably a tire retailer) tell me that with radials you can't just replace one tire because the tread difference can cause the car to lose traction in emergency situations.

So, besides the obvious fact that one tire will wear differently than the other, are there any probs. with doing just one tire?

Honestly, this is the first time that I have ever had a blowout in almost 25 years behind the wheels of various cars.

So now I have what used to be a B.F. Goodrich 185 tire in my trunk. Big ol' chunk of the sidewall is gone, tread is still intact. Wonder what the hell caused that to happen? Tires are only about 20K old...