2 new tires......mount on front or rear?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
1,181
Location
NJ, USA
The reason my car was pulling to the right after having brand new tires put on turned out to be a bad tire. They checked the alignment and it was spot on. Normally, since the tires are only on the car for two days they would replace the single bad tire but since the car spent all day yesterday flogging around Pocono Raceway at over 100 mpg, they've developed more wear than a two day old tire normally would. So, in light of that the tire dealer is ordering a pair of new tires instead of only one.

Now my question is do the brand new ones go on the front or rear (front wheel drive car?). It is my understanding that anytime you replace only two tires they always go in the rear regardless of front or rear wheel drive. Any tire experts out there to confirm or dispute this for me? He (the manager at the shop) mentioned putting the new ones on front. His reasoning is they will wear faster in front and more quickly even out with the rears in terms of wear.

Again, normally with two day old tires it shouldn't matter one bit but given the one very hard day of useage they would probably take 4-6 months of normal street use to wear as much as they did yesterday.

Silver lining in all this? I know this local dealer is a class operation that does what they need to do to make things right and have customers walking away happy. Plus, I had my alignment checked for free
smile.gif
.
 
Originally posted by mikep:
[QB] The reason my car was pulling to the right after having brand new tires put on turned out to be a bad tire. They checked the alignment and it was spot on. Normally, since the tires are only on the car for two days they would replace the single bad tire but since the car spent all day yesterday flogging around Pocono Raceway at over 100 mpg, they've developed more wear than a two day old tire normally would.

=====================

Gee, what kind of car can be flogged around a race course and still get 100 mpg? I would love to have one with gas prices where they are.
grin.gif
grin.gif


Seriously, with a FWD car, I would put the new ones on the front.
 
quote:

Originally posted by k1xv:
Gee, what kind of car can be flogged around a race course and still get 100 mpg? I would love to have one with gas prices where they are.
grin.gif
grin.gif


Seriously, with a FWD car, I would put the new ones on the front.


LOL....I really need to start proof reading my posts
pat.gif
. After reading my last post about getting the tires I was mortified. That is pretty funny.
 
According to two local shops, the best tires are to be on the rear. They refuse to put singles or pairs on the front. This is regardless of drive wheels. They claim it is a safety issue, in the event of emergency handling.
 
quote:

Originally posted by totttalled:
According to two local shops, the best tires are to be on the rear. They refuse to put singles or pairs on the front. This is regardless of drive wheels. They claim it is a safety issue, in the event of emergency handling.

Ditto. Exactly what I've heard.
 
In the days before ABS, I would have agreed that the better tires should go on the rear.

Does the recommendation that the new tires go on the back take into account the fact that most cars these days have ABS?
 
you always want to put your best tires on the rear of the car. It's much easier to regain control of a car in an understeer condition than an oversteer condition.

quote:

Originally posted by k1xv:
Does the recommendation that the new tires go on the back take into account the fact that most cars these days have ABS?

Yes they do. That's not the issue. ABS is not even a minor part of overall traction.
 
how much wear is there on old tires?

if it's greater than 70-80% then move them to the rear as they will wear far slower than the front. i don't think you will have to worry about under or oversteer just yet.

new tires up front.
 
Most FWD cars are set up to understeer substantially. Of course since you were racing at 100+mph maybe you don't have the typical enconomy sedan. Anyhow better traction in front should give more neutral handling. On dry roads it doesn't really matter how much tread you have; it's the rubber compounds and tire design that hold the road: A somewhat used tire of the same model should perform fine. I don't push the limits in wet or snowy weather so I don't mind putting new tires on the front. (I do run dedicated snow tires equally worn on all four.)
 
Just so everyone understands:

If the vehicle was pulling before you went to Pocono, then you got a good deal out of your tire dealer. If the pull occurred AFTER, you got a GREAT deal, as turning in one direction can cause a wear pattern that is similar to camber, which can result in a pull, meaning the tire wasn't the source of it going "bad".

If you query tire manufacturers, you'll find that they all say "Put new tires on the rear". This is because if a vehicle hydroplanes and the new tires are on the rear and loss of control occurrs at the rear, then that is just one of those things. However, if the new tires were on the front and loss of control occurs at the rear, then the arguement is that the vehicle wouldn't have lost control if the tires with the most hydroplaning resistance (the deeper tread) were on the rear.

All the other possibilities come down to the "driver error" argument.

So from the point of view about what's "safest", then the new tires should go on the rear.

Hope this helps.
 
quote:

Originally posted by CapriRacer:
Just so everyone understands:

If the vehicle was pulling before you went to Pocono, then you got a good deal out of your tire dealer. If the pull occurred AFTER, you got a GREAT deal, as turning in one direction can cause a wear pattern that is similar to camber, which can result in a pull, meaning the tire wasn't the source of it going "bad".


When I dropped of the car to have the new tires put on it was tracking straight and true. As soon as I pulled out the dealer I called them up to tell them it was pulling fairly hard to the right. Since it was closing time for them and I was of to the track at 5:00 am the next morning, it had to wait until Saturday.

I agree that this shop, and manager in particular, are really going the extra mile to make things right. I purchased a set of Nokian winter tires for my wife's Pathfinder there last fall and now he's getting prices on a set of Nokians and steel wheels for my car to use this winter. Maybe that has something to do with his willingness to assist
dunno.gif
.

What Thomas Pyrek said does make a lot of sense. I'll send an email to Brigestone/Firestone and see what they say. Will post their response for the group.

Thanks for all the replies gang
cheers.gif
.
 
My 2 cents, for what it's worth is to put the new replacement tires on the front. Your tires on the rear are still relatively new. If they were "baloney" skins and you could only replace 2 tires then yes put them on the rear. Because a blow out in the rear tires is more dangerous than if in the fronts. Your front tires are going to wear faster than the rears. So if you put the 2 new tires on the front, by the time you rotate all 4 tires @ 5,000 miles the new fronts will probably have the same amount of tread as the "old" rear tires. Of course all bets are off if you hit the track again
grin.gif
.

Whimsey
 
The best tires always go to the back. Granted in this case, the amount of wear on the current rears may not be much...

But get in a situation where the rear end goes when you don't want it to, and watch out!

I learned my lesson the hard way on my old cavalier. I though I was smart and put the better tires on the front for better traction. That lasted less than a week after my rears locked on me and sent me into a 720 spin through a busy intersection... Never again!
frown.gif
 
Very interesting discussion.
I learn something at this Board every day.
This caused me to think about the tire issue in ways I hadn't before.

I know an analogy from 4-wheeling. If you only had one pair of tire chains, they should go in the rear. Very unpleasant thing to have the rear end come around when you are trying to ease down an icy slope.
 
I alwyas put the new ones o the back, think of driving in the wet and having the rear swap ends with you, there have been some good articles on this in the auto magazines lately, I used to put them on the front too, but no more.
 
quote:

Originally posted by flyboy4947:
I alwyas put the new ones o the back, think of driving in the wet and having the rear swap ends with you, there have been some good articles on this in the auto magazines lately, I used to put them on the front too, but no more.

I think this is the best answer.

If the tires with less tread depth are on the front, then in the wet you might 'feel' when hydroplaning is possible.

If the worn tires are on the then you might only know when you lose control.

If wet weather drivng wasn't and issue, then I'd put the newest tires where the tires wear fastest. This presumes the 'worn' tires aren't really bad.
 
In response to your question regarding vehicles with ABS systems: if your tires were well worn and placed on the rear, the ABS would keep them from breaking loose, however, they would also let you travel much further before stopping in order to do this! That is why you would NORMALLY put the better tread on the rear of any car. In your scenario, it shouldnt matter.
 
Good point. It would especially be true with the lightly loaded rear of FWD's like my Cavalier. By fall the original front tires will have over 50K on them. They will go to the trash, rears to the front, and new tires to the back. I will be trying to find afordable tires good on noise, ride, and wet traction.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top