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I'm planning to buy 2 new tyres to replace both nearside tyres. I'm wondering will it be better in terms of durability or thread consumption if these 2 are fixed in the front or at the back or other combination?
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This is a bad idea. You will then have a brand new and a worn tyre on each axle which is not recommended.
I would pick the best 2 tyres and put them on the back, and put the new tyres on the front. This is probably the best combination for durability assuming your car is front wheel drive.
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Fully agree, not only for durability but for driveability too
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Discussed here loads of times. The professionals say best tyres on the rear.
Chris M
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Thank you for all the useful replies.
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Discussed here loads of times. The professionals say best tyres on the rear. Chris M
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I once had new tyres on the rear of our Xantia and that is when it had the worst handling ever. There was less grip from the rear tyres, until they were bedded in, and the car developed oversteer. I have never encountered any problems in fitting new tyres to the front wheels, such as I now have on our C5.
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Logic tells me on a fwd car that the front wheels/tyres do all the work; drive, steer and most of the braking, so logic says thats where the best rubber should go.
Professional opinion from what I can find out is split, at best, on where to put the best rubber.
But from my experience of moving tyres around and experimenting says it will always go on the fron of my fwd vehicles.
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Agree - new rubber always on the front of a FWD.
Advice from the trade to do the opposite seems to be a very recent thing.
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Discussed here loads of times. The professionals say best tyres on the rear.
I would argue that this is okay for RWD cars, but as FWD cars have a natural tendency to understeer I still say the brst tyres should be on the front.
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>>but as FWD cars have a natural tendency to understeer
Perhaps I'm being pedantic, but I don't think there is a causal link here.
If you mean FWD have a tendancy towards understeering under the application of power, then, I agree, but I would probably describe it as limiting understeer, or traction understeer. Effectively, the tyre is being "overloaded" by being asked to corner and to accelerate at the same time, and the friction oval is being exceeded.
Virtually all modern cars have an *understeering characteristic at neutral throttle, whether front, rear, or four wheel drive.
Obviously injudicious application of the throttle on a RWD car will overload the rear tyres in a similar way, and give you traction oversteer, even if the car's neutral throttle characteristic is understeer.
Number_Cruncher
* using the technical definition of having larger tyre slip angles at the front than at the rear - nothing to do with skidding or Clarksonesque airfield indulgences.
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The most up-to-date advice is to ALWAYS put the best tyres on th REAR.
In slippery conditions if the rear tyres are more worn than the front there is a big risk of loosing the back end of the vehicle and spinning it around!
I had two new tyres fitted a few months ago at Costco (they only had two in stock) and they put them on the back (even though it was the fronts that need changing most). They put the best two old tyres at the front. I went back about two weeks later for the other two to be changed and they again put these on the back even though the existing back tyres were only two weeks old.
They have quite an alarming video in the waiting area showing the consequences of fitting new tyres at the front when the rears are worn.
I would agree that you would think the front would be more likely to understeer if the new tyres are at the back, but the risk of loosing the back-end must be more?
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Not trying to tell you who is right or wrong.
IMO how on earth can a rear undriven wheel overtake a front one ? Oversteer? on a fwd ? only with a brake fault and that is not a tyre problem! its a maintenance problem!
I have personally experimented with all sorts of combinations on fwd and rwd vehicles and on my cars the best rubber goes on the front.
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On my car the new rubber goes wherever the knackered rubber came off. Last time it was the front, the time before it was the back. And i'm still alive! Never lost control of the car either...
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I always put new boots on whichever of the wheels do the driving.
ie, FWD, they go on the front. RWD, they go on the rear.
Lots of different views on this if you do a forum search. Some argue new tyres always on the rear, others argue on the front.
I've driven loads of FWD cars where the rear tyres are worn more than the fronts and never had the rear of the car lose control. On the flipside, I've driven loads of FWD cars with worn front tyres and had loads of understeer in the wet. New ones on the front for me every time.
At the end of the day though it's personal preference.
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IMO how on earth can a rear undriven wheel overtake a front one ? Oversteer? on a fwd ? only with a brake fault and that is not a tyre problem! its a maintenance problem!
I'll happily demonstrate lift off oversteer in virtually any FWD car. To give it a try yourself, go round a corner quickly, close to the limit and take your foot off the throttle. The back end will step out if you're close enough to the limit just because of the weight transfer, nothing to do with faulty braks at all. Stand on the brakes halfway round the corner and the problem is exacerbated.
As understeer is much easier to deal with for the untrained driver than oversteer, it makes sense to have the best rubber where its less likely to spring some unnecessary surprises.
--
I read often, only post occasionally
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In my rallying time I have experienced more incidents than most normal drivers i am sure.
Only once did I incur lift off oversteer; that was on a mini with lsd. Never been able to repeat the situation even under trying when the best rubber is where I wanted it.
Most fwd cars when you lift off after heaving into a corner too fast just scrub the speed off so quickly sideways that it wont spin round! You may be interested to note that a fwd car can slide to a stop sideways in the width of a country road! but still wont spin right round!
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Whenever i have tyres replaced i have the back ones put on the front and the new ones on the back to 'rotate' them. Rubber ages, affected by uv rays and i believe can become quite dangerous. My dad's Mondeo (R reg) has still got the original back tyres on it.
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My dad's Mondeo (R reg) has still got the original back tyres on it.
Isn't it recommended to change tyres when they're 5 years old regardless of wear? An eight year-old car with its original tyres isn't something I'd like to be travelling at 80mph inside.
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An eight year-old car with its original tyres isn't something I'd like to be travelling at 80mph inside.
He drives faster than that quite regular. They are being replaced when he gets back off holiday as when the car was serviced ford said they had about 4,000 miles leafted in them. My back side twitches sometimes when i drive it at speed on the motorway!!
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My incident occurred on a not very severe right hand bend, on a dual carriageway, at about 70 mph. The tyres had been on the car for about 100 miles at the time. They were Avon and I had Michelin Energy on the front at the time. The handling on the car was never great with this tyre combination but was decidedly nervous until the Avons were bedded in. The handling improved tremendously when I replace the Michelins with Avons on the front. Obviously, after my experience, I had the new Avons fitted to the front wheels.
I have never noticed a lack of grip with new tyres on the front wheels of a front wheel drive car. I have just had two Primacy HPs on the front of our C5 and the handling and grip are both better than with the old Pilot Primacy tyres.
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I'm convinced by Michelins argument in favour of the best tyres (i.e. tread depth) at the rear. In the dry, it won't make a lot of difference. Try lifting off in mid-bend in the wet: skid pan training helps, or even better, go to a skid pan and be informed.
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While we are on the subject of tyres anyone any experince with Pirelli P6. They have got a good score on a website elsewhere just wonder what peoples opinions are?
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Accepting that tread depth is the main factor in ability to displace water , when travelling in a straight line most cars' rear wheels run on the surface cleared by the fronts, which would suggest best wet weather braking will be achieved with deepest tread on the fronts.
(I have had skid pan training in rear drive cars and found it useful on a couple of occasions when I hit patches of wet leaves on bends in front drive cars; I do plan to go to a skid pan for better front drive technique)
I would personally agree with DD and have new tyres on the fronts, but each to his own preference!
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I've taken to switching tyres front to back between changes to even out wear - so that as far as possible I replace in a set of 4. Dunno what other folks think about swopping back to front - I think this might be just as controversial as deciding where to put 2 new ones! I know so people think that swopping causes a more rapid period of wear in the short term, while the tyres take on the new position, but I can't say I've noticed this to any great extent.
I think if it's possible to maintain fairly equal tread depths all the way round that's as good as anything. Of course, it does mean buying 4 all at once, which isn't a pleasant experience!
Graeme
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Part of the reason to put new tyres on the rear,is that many motorists just keep replacing their front tyres(on FWD) whilst leaving the rears unchanged for years,allowing these rear tyres to degrade and crack .Personally I rotate my tyres front to rear and replace all four at the same time where possible.
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Even on my RWD car the front tyres wear quicker than the rears-I don't do any wheelspin starts tho..
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