New Tire Rack Tests

[tenderloin]

Quote:

Costco insists on this silly policy so I sent an online inquiry to the Michelin technical experts repeating the argument made above: putting the new tires on the back creates a worse imbalance after rotation than putting the new tires on the front would have created in the first place. The Michelin experts never replied, presumably because the logic is irrefutable.


One reason tire manufacturers and quality shops adhere to new tires in the rear is because of the major problems Firestone and Ford had with blow outs. While not rehashing what happened, the rears were almost always the ones that went...resulting in fishtailing and over correction that caused many a terrible crash.

If a front tire blows the car usually will settle down and be more controllable compared to if a rear blows.

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: ponderosaTX
.......Front tires wear more rapidly than rear tires, particularly in FWD cars. What happens when it comes time to rotate the tires front to back (which is the only rotation allowed for unidirectional tires)? ......


If you rotate at the proper intervals, the differences are so small it doesn't matter. Where the rule comes into play is where you have significant differences front to rear - like when you don't rotate enough.

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: ponderosaTX
The problem with this advice is that it is short-sighted. Front tires wear more rapidly than rear tires, particularly in FWD cars. What happens when it comes time to rotate the tires front to back (which is the only rotation allowed for unidirectional tires)? The differential between front and rear tread depth is worse than the original configuration where the "engineers" recommended putting the new tires on the back.


For that reason, I always put the less-worn tires on the front with a matched set, assuming there isn't enough difference to be an issue. But with an unmatched set, you should just wear out the old ones on the front anyway so you can get a matched set as soon as possible.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: rpn453
But with an unmatched set, you should just wear out the old ones on the front anyway so you can get a matched set as soon as possible.

+1

That's also another reason why you put the new tires on the rear axle when you only purchase 2 tires.