If you are going to lose control, I would rather go into an oversteer skid than an understeer one. Anyone else agree?

You may be able to cope with oversteer (as I can) but the vast majority of drivers can't so global advice has to use the lowest common denominator.

I know this is the accepted wisdom, but I challenge it. For a front wheel drive car such as the Focus, I contend it is better to have the best tread on the front. These are the wheels you rely on for braking in an emergency, or going up [or down] a slippery hill, or steering sharply out of trouble.

Let Vicki B-H show you what happens: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5YsQ_a_ijA

BTW. Will most tyre fitting people switch the wheels/tyres over for the customer if they ask for free? or do they charge you to switch them over? If so does anyone know how much roughly it would cost for them to do this?

Cheers.

I don't know about "most", but certainly the ones I use will. The car is on the jack anyway, and it only takes seconds to change a wheel.

Armed with a cheap £20 trolley jack, I can change all 4 wheels on my car in 20 minutes. It's really not a difficult operation. Most difficult part is getting the wheel trims to go on properly!

BTW. Will most tyre fitting people switch the wheels/tyres over for the customer if they ask for free? or do they charge you to switch them over? If so does anyone know how much roughly it would cost for them to do this?

Big chains like ATS and NT do it, FoC.

I use Blackcircles, and the local garage fitted the new tyres on the rear and the rears on the front without any problem.

Michelin (and no doubt other tyre manufacturers) recommend new tyres go on the rear. Ten Tyre Care Tips

I suppose a lot of this where to put the tyres argument has surfaced since they started putting drive shafts at the wrong end...never a problem when all cars were driven from the correct end...:-)

I like others will decide where to put my new tyres (and choose what type) depending on how the car handles, if i'm buying two they will invariably go on the drive axle, however i rotate things and buy a set every time.

If your car has electronic stability control linked to the ABS system, this is supposed to help prevent loss of control due to rear oversteer (except in extreme conditions) so it should not matter which end has the best tyres, should it?

I suppose a lot of this where to put the tyres argument has surfaced since they started putting drive shafts at the wrong end...never a problem when all cars were driven from the correct end...:-)

not so. Land Rover / Rover chassis engineers were telling me to put the best tyres on the rear in the late 80's when I was running a 220hp SD1 as road car and a Escort MKII as rally car. Most cars back then were still rwd. Even back then, the effects of rear end aquaplaning were well understood.

I took part in a wet handling test exercise in 1992 at MIRA. I remember being scared witless when I experienced aquaplaning for the first time - despite the controlled conditions. I had never experienced such an utter lack of control over my machine - not even in the hottest of competition. Never have since and hope I never will again.

Nice to see this debate resurrected. There is another point to be made,though.

I think all will agree that it's best to have all 4 tyres in roughly the same condition. If you always put the best tyres on the rear on a front wheel drive, the difference in tread depth between front and rear will always tend to increase which will adversely affect the handling, especially in an emergency.

I agree that if one pair is virtually new and the other is almost at 1.6mm it is probably best to have the newest at the rear, but I still contend it is best to try and equalise tread wear by getting 4 new tyres at once and swapping them from front to rear at around 15,000 miles, depending on your driving technique - thus putting the slightly better tyres on the front. After over 30,000 miles the tyres on our Focus are almost equally worn with plenty of life left [Nexen CP 641]

Front wheel drive cars are much lighter on the rear - add the rear-to-front weight transfer with braking to the already front end bias and then you are brewing up real problems by putting the tyres less able to displace standing water on the rear.

No ifs, no buts, no "my mate said down the pub" best tyres on the rear with a front wheel drive car - end of. The smaller and lighter the car the more important this potentially life-saving information is.

The real problem here is that when the back end loses grip on a FWD car, the correct action is to accelerate, using the front to pull the rear back into line, applying opposite lock as appropriate. As long as the driven wheels at the front are pulling the car along, the rears will follow.

Many find this counterintuitive and will lift off or brake, which is a sure route to a rapid swapping of ends and a trip into the weeds.

To my mind this outweighs the risk of aquaplaning in terms of potential to cause an actual accident, given that slowing suddenly might be a requirement more often than aquaplaning is an actual problem. I take the point that loss of grip at the rear might be a problem when taking evasive action however.

Actually, the industry advice is based on sound research of real accidents and which accidents kill and injure the most. Going into a spin and heading off into a tree is extremely deadly. The car is at its strongest in a head on collision, so the latter is often more survivable.

NHSTA are the lead researchers n this instance.