New Tyres - Front or Rear?

[Gromle]

Ive always put the good ones up front. Especially with wintertyres. Its quite noticeable how much sooner the ABS kicks in with worn tyres compared to new ones.

And oversteering is not a problem, not even on ice. Can't really say I can remember having any serious oversteer since my days in my Cortina.

[Isocrem]

The main drive for new tyres on the rear (current, not historic) comes from the Manufacturers themselves . Whether anyone chooses to follow that advice is entirely up to themselves, of course.

[banksie]

I do think that much of the 'experienced' comment is based on years old experience when rear wheel drive was the norm.I ALWAYS put new tyres on the front because, as some other (clearly enlightened and intelligent) posters have said, they do all the work. How often do you experience oversteer in normal driving conditions? Not often I would suggest.And on a straight road the rear tyres are following in the tracks of the front wheels so if you are sensible and brake in a straight line (trail braking is not good practice on the road) then the front tyres have cleared a lot of water before the rear tyres get to that particular spot of tarmac.

 

At the end of the day, you buy the tyres and you choose.

No "experienced" comment here just facts from Police accident investigators!

[tweenster]

No "experienced" comment here just facts from Police accident investigators!

 

Having read all the links my interpretation is clear; if you are an Average Joe driver put the good tyres on the rear because you are unable to control oversteer in an emergency situation. I raced karts for a number of years and oversteer was the norm. Brake in a straight line (as you should), look ahead and read the road conditions/situations and having the best grip on the front wheels is the correct position. I suppose the choice is clear - do you want the best grip in 99% of conditions or the 1% of emergency situations (that you might possibly have avoided in the first place by using defensive driving techniques?)?

 

Read the evidence and decide for yourself. Nothing I have read in this thread has made me change my mind.

[themanwithnoaim]

Rotate your tyres 4 or 5 times through their lifespan and you'll never have any of these problems. Be a lazy git and let the tyre boys do all the work for you, surprise surprise, it'll cost you more in the long run and your only point of contact with the road could be dubious at best.

Rotating tyres gives more even wear, allowing you to buy full sets of 4 which will get more more discount on your tyres.

I'm lucky to get 11k outta a set of tyres the way I use them which is why I do invest some time and effort to ensure the best possible contact with the road at all times.

[Alpha2110]

I think there may be arguments to put new tyres on the rear in old small cars, short wheelbase, no ABS, ie hot hatchs. However the modern stabilaty controls and ABS systems do a pritty good job on modern cars to keep the car where you want it to go.

You have to be going some speed to get a mordern car to snap over steer, and you have to ask the question if this is a problem on the public highway, you probably should not have a licence.

Also decent tyres that don't wear non uniformly help, i.e where the sholder of the tyre disapears and you still have 4mm in the centre, due not to alignment put poor tread design. So even with tyres that have low tread on the rear, across the full tyre should be perfectly safe.

Personaly i like to rotate tyres, i have had rear tyres fail mot after 5 years for cracking, also having old tyres the rubber goes off eventually, so i rather buy 4 new ones sooner.