So I had my car serviced this week and the front tyres are down to 3mm and the rears are at 6mm.

 

Its got to go back to hunt for an annoying rattle in a few weeks, my first thoughts are to swap the fronts and rears over when its in however...........

 

I am not entirely keen on my P Zeros so I thought I could swap the fronts for Michelin Pilot Sport 4s and then when the rears are low enough change them for the michelins, my fear is though having two different tyres on the rears and fronts (I don't really want to swap all four as its too costly

 

What are peoples thoughts? Could different tyres cause a problem?

 

Thanks All !

I recently swapped my practically bald well-used front P Zeros for the rear P Zeros (225/25 R19s), and put new Goodyear F1 A3s on the rears (235/35 R19s) - with a view to running the older Pirellis on the front until they need changing, and shelling out for new GY F1 A3s in 235/35 to replace them as and when.

 

To be brutally honest, I've not felt much change at all - it shouldn't cause you any noticeable problems unless you're looking at doing track days or driving on particularly smooth roads... or you're of 'Princess and the Pea' sensory feeling  

 

My one point would be to obviously put the grippier tyre on the front, and be prepared for some (very limited) potential slip on the rears - which it sounds like what you're doing.

 

Also, I highly recommend upgrading from 225/35 to 235/35 - it's maybe +£10 difference per quarter, but the level of grip and rim protection is excellent. You can thank @stu83 for the recommendation.

Across the axle the tyres should definitely be the same brand, tread type and at the same rate of wear. It is good practice to have a matching set but like yourself I have an issue with dropping lots of money on a full set of tyres but ideally I’d like to as I have a pair of PS4’s on the front which are proving an awesome choice, far superior to an recent Pirelli that I have used which are at 3mm and a set on the rear from a brand I have never heard of which were brand new when I bought the car 4k miles ago. Ideally for ££ reasons I would put these nasty ones on the front and wear them out but they are so substandard the plan is to bin them and get another pair of PS4’s to stage out the spending. Once the front pair are down another mm I will go for another pair of PS4’s

Thanks All, I think I will go with the swapping the worn ones for michelins.

 

The rim protection is what appeals to me with the PS4's (as well as the handling) as in my first few months of ownership I managed to scuff my pristine Xtremes so hopefully it would offer at least some protection next time!!

 

I was a bit surprised that they had worn down so much in 20K, however equally surprised that my brakes had only worn down 10% on the fronts and 5% on the rears - so swings and roundabouts I suppose!!!!!

No problems provide you put the best tyres on the back. So swap rear to front and new tyres on back.

10 minutes ago, xman said:

No problems provide you put the best tyres on the back. So swap rear to front and new tyres on back.

 

Im going to disagree with you @xman. Front wheel drive therefore I’d go for the best tyres, i.e. the ones I’ve just spent £200 on, on the front. That’s where most of the braking effort is in normal driving and where you want most grip for acceleration. I’ve read lots of advice about grip to stop the back sliding out under cornering but I honestly don’t think most drivers push to that extent. Why deprive yourself of all that lovely new tread tech that you’ve just invested in and having it being towed round by the old P -Zeros, or whatever?

22 minutes ago, Pilotguy said:

but I honestly don’t think most drivers push to that extent.

You don’t need to be pushing it to need to brake hard in a turn in the wet.

 

However unless there is a huge difference in the tyres or one set is nearly bald, can’t see a couple of mm causing a problem to most people. If the other set was that bad you’d replace all 4 wouldn’t you?

 

Although I tend to even out the wear when I swap wheels twice a year on mine, any car driven by others in the family get the best tyres on the back

2 hours ago, xman said:

No problems provide you put the best tyres on the back. So swap rear to front and new tyres on back.

^^^ This.  

It's the right way to do it.  Just ask Michelin...  and more here

4 hours ago, brad1.8T said:

^^^ This.  

It's the right way to do it.  Just ask Michelin...  and more here

 

+1 new tyres on the back is always how I've replaced mine.

What area is the rattle coming from??

 

13 hours ago, Pilotguy said:

 

Im going to disagree with you @xman. Front wheel drive therefore I’d go for the best tyres, i.e. the ones I’ve just spent £200 on, on the front. That’s where most of the braking effort is in normal driving and where you want most grip for acceleration. I’ve read lots of advice about grip to stop the back sliding out under cornering but I honestly don’t think most drivers push to that extent. Why deprive yourself of all that lovely new tread tech that you’ve just invested in and having it being towed round by the old P -Zeros, or whatever?

 

I'm with Pilotguy. Most important thing is straight line braking and for that you need grip at the front. 

But lets not repeat this old argument 

Can people please confirm whether they are talking about PS4's being the plural of PS4 or the better version of the tyre call PS4s.

 

FYI @Ads230 the PS4s are £6 cheaper a tyre in 235 instead of 225 on blackcircle.com

I'm not running an Octavia Vrs but have just had my rears (Bridgestone) moved to the front and a brand new pair of Michelin PS4's or whatever the latest incarnation is put on the rear.

 

Once the Bridgestone's wear out I shall move the PS4's from rear to front and put the brand new to the rear again.

 

If I leave the rears they end up perishing or cracking before they ever wear out.

From an MOT tester/technicain's point of view, New tyres always on the driven end (FWD new tyres on the front, RWD new tyres on the rear) as the driven axle has the most work to do so needs the grippier tyre.

5 minutes ago, Ju1ian1001 said:

From an MOT tester/technicain's point of view, New tyres always on the driven end (FWD new tyres on the front, RWD new tyres on the rear) as the driven axle has the most work to do so needs the grippier tyre.

With just over 5/6mm on my rears at the time, my 14,500 mile fronts got pretty much to the wear marks; so the rears had to move to the front, otherwise they never wear out

 

It's down to personal preference, I would never move the rears if they were very worn but my car seems to hardly touch the rears.

Edited 30 January, 20188 yr by Defenderben

8 hours ago, skippy41 said:

What area is the rattle coming from??

 

The dash somewhere its in the car by the binnacle, the mechanic took the bits of the dash that he could in the time he had, removed the binnacle and couldn't trace it, its going back in a couple of weeks to remove the dash!! So hopefully he can trace it - its amazingly annoying.

 

The tyres are P4S rather than Plural.

As others have said, no problem with doing this as long as you have matching tyres across the axle. 

 

Best tyres should always be on the back, I'm fairly sure it's nothing to do with FWD or RWD, it's to do with the fact you can use the steering wheel to help correct the front should it lose grip to either get back in control or avoid an accident,  but there's not much you can do if the back let's go so you want to make sure it doesn't! 

11 hours ago, skippy41 said:

What area is the rattle coming from??

 

Have  you added  any personal  equipment,  that is hard wired. ,  an other  thing  to check is the seat leaver the one that moves  it up and down  they tend  to rattle  off the side  of the  seat 

18 hours ago, ahenners said:

 

+1 new tyres on the back is always how I've replaced mine.

I think the article in the 2nd link is quite good and allows people to make an informed personal decision.  Like many things, there is no absolute right / wrong with this.

 

I do know that my g/fs car has always had just the fronts changed (before we met) and recently I had to do the rears (with 5mm of tread) because they were too old (10 years) and the sidewalls had started cracking. 

15 hours ago, finnster01 said:

 

The tyres are P4S rather than Plural.

Or even PS4S

Aquaplaning is the biggest issue with low tread, in a straight or bend...

Front wheels aquaplane, you'll drift forward until it finds grip again. Rear wheels are likely to maintain grip as they have more tread, so should be able to slow down and maintain that straight line.

Rear wheels aquaplane,  you'll maintain a straight line if road is flat, straight and you're not braking. Otherwise rear fishtails and more likely to spin out either from the initial loss of control, or from overcorrecting.

On 30/01/2018 at 23:02, jtalep said:

there's not much you can do if the back let's go so you want to make sure it doesn't! 

 

Of course you can control the back end too....

 

 

 

5 minutes ago, juan27 said:

 

Of course you can control the back end too....

 

 

 

 

Not easily for the regular driver when they experience an unexpected loss of grip, no, especially if this happens at speed on a busy road and is caused by aquaplaning. 

 

Continental - "If only one axle set of tyres is replaced, then it is generally recommended to install the newest tyres on the rear axle."

The AA - "Whether your car’s front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive the best/newest tyres should be on the back"

Kwik Fit - "We do recommend fitting your best tyres at the rear of the vehicle"

Michelin - "If only two tires are being replaced, Michelin generally recommends they be installed on the rear axle"

Kumho - "To give the best possibilities of a vehicle handling safely when fitting new tyres to a vehicle in pairs, it is advisable to fit the new tyres to the rear axle"

 

It's a no brainer when it comes to safety really.

1 hour ago, juan27 said:

 

Of course you can control the back end too....

 

 

 

 

Haven't tried the handbrake turn yet!

1 hour ago, juan27 said:

 

Of course you can control the back end too....

 

 

To control a rear end skid, you need to release the brakes and accelerate out of it. That is if you are even aware of it and not much use if you need to stop in a hurry.