Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 5-11-2016 Part 1

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Thu 3 Nov 2016 22:32
- CanAmSteve
Question regarding tyre swapping on an AWD car. Yes, swapping front-to-rear on the same side will even tyre wear, but then, at some point, you will have four very worn tyres. Many (if not most) AWD cars have a front-drive bias (even Land Rovers wear the fronts more) so while this works fine for the first 50% or so of tread life, I find it a bit disconcerting to continue white-knuclking down to the legal limit on wear - especially should winter arrive as the tyre lifespan is ending.

Tyre manufacturers recommend that if you replace only two tyres on a car, you do the rears. This is because they feel the average driver can handle understeer better than oversteer. You may make your own decisions. However, once tyres are 50% worn, I tend to leave them as is and then replace one axle pair as per recommendations. This then gives me another year of motoring with two "new" and two older tyres (all well within legal limits). If I keep the car (as this is by then a consideration) I may replace the second set a bit early. Still softens the blow to the budget a bit.
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