2 new tires. Put on front or rear?

[bbhero]

Well stated man

makes sense to me exactly what you said there. I see where at Martinsville the cars drop their front nose quite a bit under braking entering turn 1, and turn 3.. I do think that the static weight matters a bit in that the more weight that is in the front the more this effect can be.

The water was fairly deep that afternoon Quattro and I bet brand new tires would have had difficulty in that. I really was driving a bit fast for the conditions. Speed limit was 60 mph on a sunny day. Well very heavy rain and had been for awhile. I have the Rain X wiper fluid which really works well to keep the windshield clear of rain. But there were many areas of ponding on the roadway that afternoon.

I am guessing the lower tread tires had 3/16th of tread left.. Not too much difference between them. These were Goodyear Assurance Touring tires with 70k mile warranty. The had 48k on them when this happened. I have been very pleased with these tires.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Yes, if you're going fast enough and the water is deep enough, you will eventually hydroplane, regardless how good/bad your tires are.

 

[bbhero]

Yes sir. I was on the shorter than average bus that afternoon the way I was driving. First time ina long time I was really spooked.. But, in your answer it does make sense that having the better tires in the back can make a lot of sense too.

I have always put mine on the front and likely will continue to do so at least for the winter time. But I also dont overdrive many turns hardly ever either. In the winter time I really like the deeper treads up front. I have never had any troubles driving in the winter. But I am very judiciuos in my speed. Unlike that afternoon in the pouring rain.

 

[Pokermatters]

I rotate my tires every 6 to 8 thousand miles. Without question, my tires wear faster on the front. If my two older tires had "half tread left", say, 7/32nds or 6/32nd of an inch, I'd put my new ones on the front, forgo rotating my tires while the older ones remain on the back, and there might be a good chance all 4 tires are down to around 3/32nds or so at about the same time for when I need to then purchase 4 new tires.

It's not as if the guy would be putting bald tires on the back!

 

[AZjeff]

Back in the days before anti-lock brakes I put a new set of winter tires on the front of a new FWD car for Pa winter driving. The car was undriveable and extremely dangerous, the rear would lock up and skid while the front had great traction, under normal, cautious driving on snowy roads. This was an extreme example of differences of traction but the car behaved exactly like the video above. Luckily I put winters on the rear before the car got wrecked.

Don't let 2 of your tires wear out, if you do suck it up and replace all 4 then pay attention. Sell the old pair on craigslist.

 

[chrisri]

There are good arguments both for mounting new tyres upfront and rear, but my opinion is that new tyres should go on front axle. I think we all will agree that vehicle should be driven on tyres that are in condition that satisfy the minimum requirement for road worthiness. If used tyres that remain on car are still above minimum tread depth, age, size than there is no legal implications with mounting new tyres in front. At least that is how it is Europe.
No one is saying here that bad tyres should be left on the car, all four should be in good condition.
With all four new tyres 99% of cars in service today will understeer. We are talking normal driving, not power laps in M3 or Hellcat.
80% of all braking is on front axle.
100% of steering is with front tyres.
Front tyres are also more loaded, and will reach higher temperatures while driving.
All above is only my opinion, not advice. My advice is to have all four tyres mounted at the same time, but for some, unfortunately, that's not an option.

 

[southernjeeper]

Originally Posted By: southernjeeper
I have been told to always put newer tires on the front.





To clarify and remark...
This is only true if the rear tires are in great or good shape. Down here in the southern states we get more rain than anything else so good tread is a necessity on wet roads due to not hydro planing. The set on the Tacoma before the new set was put on in march of this year BFG KOS the older set wasn't rotated and balanced like I should have and once I did rotate them I went with putting the not so great of tread tire on the pass rear. I HAD TO DO MY BEST which was pretty fun and took some expertise to not get stuck around deer season on a farm for a few months. I managed until I got the old KOS before the new ko2s finally decided to be made widespread for all of Thierry sizes across the board.

So in turn ( no pun intended) my better tires before the new set went on were on the front. If I had gotten two new tires before getting all four as a set new I would have put the best old tires in the back and the bran spanking new ones on the front. Hands down. Better handling fronts on a Tacoma is far better in my eyes and understanding than putting them on the back. I just knew not to drive like a stupid immature kid that peels out every chance they get on their daddy's tires they bought for that bratty kid in the first place to mess up.

Michelin owns bfgoodrich so the tread compound sure beats the sorry softer tire of what my first set on the Cherokee was when I was in high school. Those were Goodyear wranglers all terrain ... Sorry as butt. Never again would I put a all terrain from them on a vehicle of mine. However the duratracs seem to be one bad butt of a tire and I wouldn't mind putting a set of those E rated on a heavier truck one day.

In the Tacoma with the KOS I run the LT31x10.50r15
Cherokee I have LT235/75r15
Dad's jeep is rugged terrain 235s as well.
My moms car is I believe Michelin pass tires.

Every 3-5,000 miles is the best bet to get every stinking life out of a set of any tire on any vehicle that gets a lot of miles on it through a given year.

Peace out

Btw. If you have a tire that takes 5ozs of weight to balance that one tire. It should be replaced or you should look into getting a new tire or a new pair to match the other side.

 

[BRZED]

southernjeeper, since hydrodplaining is of concern to you, with the tires with the most tread and grip on the front, at which end of the car do you expect hydroplaning to announce itself first?

 

[Jetronic]

the unloaded end...which is the rear in a fwd car.

 

[BRZED]

Originally Posted By: Jetronic
the unloaded end...which is the rear in a fwd car.


I was asking southernjeeper, because I was hoping he'd figure out what will happen.

 

[bbhero]

Actually, when I had my better tires rotated up front recently... May seem strange but I had far less hydroplaning incidents with the better tires on the front. I felt much more uncomfortable with the front end losing traction than if the back end got out of shape. Which it hardly did at all after rotating the better tires up front.
If the back end gets squirrelly I find it easier to handle. Now, I've had all 4 lose traction this last summer and it was very spooky. Thank goodness I did not overreact or over steer the car. Would've been wrecked for sure.

 

[rslifkin]

I'd agree that it takes more to get the rear end to hydroplane (only done it once, on a high rpm downshift in heavy rain). The rear tires are usually following in the tracks of the fronts at most speeds where hydroplaning is an issue, so they have less water to remove.

 

[southernjeeper]

Originally Posted By: BRZED
Originally Posted By: Jetronic
the unloaded end...which is the rear in a fwd car.


I was asking southernjeeper, because I was hoping he'd figure out what will happen.


In my lifetime I don't think I will ever want to buy a fwd car.

Rear wheel drive if I can help it.

I reckon y'all can just school me on the matter.

 

[Astro14]

Originally Posted By: Kuato
Every couple months....

Yep...same question...

 

[Astro14]

Your opinion is wrong. It seems instinctively true but is specious. We are not talking about hot laps on a track in exotic performance cars, on which you base your arguments. We are talking about safety in the real world in which the threat is loss of stability.

Testing has shown that even professional drivers, on a track, who know the loss of traction is coming, will lose control of a car that hydroplanes at the rear. They are able to maintain control of a car that hydroplanes at the front.

A regular driver on the street will not do better.

So, put the good tires at the rear.

We cover this every two months at BITOG. Bottom line: what you think you know about traction, stability and tires is not true. Put new tires on the rear.

 

[Jetronic]

I'd say, put the BEST tyres on the rear.... which wouldn't always be the new ones.

 

[Nate1979]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
Your opinion is wrong. It seems instinctively true but is specious. We are not talking about hot laps on a track in exotic performance cars, on which you base your arguments. We are talking about safety in the real world in which the threat is loss of stability.

Testing has shown that even professional drivers, on a track, who know the loss of traction is coming, will lose control of a car that hydroplanes at the rear. They are able to maintain control of a car that hydroplanes at the front.

A regular driver on the street will not do better.

So, put the good tires at the rear.

We cover this every two months at BITOG. Bottom line: what you think you know about traction, stability and tires is not true. Put new tires on the rear.


+1

There is a lot of exaggeration on this site about driving ability and I don't believe a single poster when they claim to be able to handle the emergency situation so well that they can put the new tires on the front. You can count the posters just in this thread alone and I don't believe a single one of them.

 

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted By: Nate1979
There is a lot of exaggeration on this site about driving ability and I don't believe a single poster when they claim to be able to handle the emergency situation so well that they can put the new tires on the front. You can count the posters just in this thread alone and I don't believe a single one of them.


I'm of the opinion that there shouldn't be a horrid emergency situation as a result of putting the new tires on the front. If the grip level between the old and new tires is that huge (due to being massively different types of tires or one the old ones being almost bald or something), then all 4 should be replaced and it's a non-issue.

If you're replacing just 2 tires with another pair of the same tires and the old ones are worn to 7/32 with the new ones at 10/32 (entirely possible if the old ones are on the rear of an FWD car and they've never been rotated), there shouldn't be a huge difference in grip between them. Yes, the rear end will start to let go a little sooner relative to the front in certain conditions, but it shouldn't be a huge difference.

By the nervous logic of "more worn tires on the rear are always unsafe and will get you killed" you can NEVER rotate the tires on a FWD car, as you'll be moving slightly more worn tires to the rear at the first rotation.

Basically, creating a massive end to end traction imbalance via tires is bad and should be avoided regardless of which end will be compromised.

 

[jjjxlr8]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
Originally Posted By: Kuato
Every couple months....

Yep...same question...


Many people don't rotate their tires properly. If they did, they would be replacing all four tires instead of in pairs.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: jjjxlr8
Many people don't rotate their tires properly. If they did, they would be replacing all four tires instead of in pairs.

Some car manufacturers specifically advise against tire rotations.