Hey everyone,

Just picked up some Michelin Pilot Primacy HPs for my Octavia TDi 110. Damn they're good! Got them for

I always put the tyres with the most tread/new on the rear of the car.

The rear of the car has no power and is more likely to loose grip due braking,cornering weight transfer etc.

If you have the tyres with the most grip on the front and nearly illegal ones on the rear in a situation the rear tyres will loose grip before the fronts and you'll end up spinning etc.

I also read this in EVO if i remember correctly aswell.

Quite agree, make sure the new tyres Do go on the back NOT the front, as previously said, if you put them on the front, you run the risk of the back stepping out and causing you to skid, especially in this weather we are having now.

Really, we should all be using winter tyres for this time of year, but I probably bet that I could count on one hand of how many are using them.

On the continent this time of year it is a must to have them, as the normal tyres that we use, offer little grip and therefore you are more prone to skidding due to the less grip that they give.

Michelin's recommendations - ie new or least worn tyres on back - are here:

http://www.michelin.co.uk/uk/auto/auto_cons_bib_pqr_neuf.jsp

Pirelli's are here:

http://www.uk.pirelli.com/en_GB/tyres/car_suv/utility_services/tech/tech4_gb.jhtml

...and their Calendar Club is here.

Best on the rear.

But that won't stop you sliding into the car in front a la rich1068 :(

So why does the book tell you to put the best tyres at the front?

I should also say, the chap said he was quoting Michelin's recommended advice when he said to put them at the back.

J

Guess the books wrong !!

Many times when people loose control of FWD cars in bends it happens when they find they are going too quickly & lift off the power, the weight is transfered forward, the back goes light & then looses traction & you spin (hence the number of youngsters who loose their hot hatches).

If you have less tread on the front the car will tend to feel its loosing grip at a lower speed so hopefully you will lift off earlier & still have sufficent rear grip to stop the spin

My local tyre fitter has a DVLA provided document on the wall that says that all new / least worn tyres should be on the rear if possible for the reasons hightlighted above.

Some cars are different though, and this cant be done. Eg, my Boxster where the rear tyres are a different size the front.

I'm currently running more tread on the front than the rear - I've swapped them over to wear them down so it doesnt feel so bad when it comes to buying a full set in a month or so

I remember 5th gear doing a wet driving test with a 1.4 Corsa - they showed the effect of near bald tyres on the rear as mentioned above.

Personally I love oversteer and danger so it doesnt bother me

[quote=

Personally I love oversteer and danger so it doesnt bother me

I hope we never have to quote you on that

Just picked up some Michelin Pilot Primacy HPs for my Octavia TDi 110. Damn they're good! Got them for

I found those tyres to be useless once they reach the half way point. In fact' date=' they'r ethe ones I've got on the rear of mine at the moment with Dunlop SP Sport 2000E's on the front.

The Dunlops are noticably noisier though.[/quote']

Really? They've only been out a few weeks. :confused: The HPs are the new design designed to be much longer lasting than a regular tyre.

The SP2000Es I found to be poor in general and I got the car with 3mm up front and 5mm at the back. I was poor, so I put the worst pair on the rear until they were almost at the legal minimum. It never oversteered once. Just buckets of understeer.

I think I'll probably have them swapped over this weekend though. Wouldn't want to go against the overwhelming majority - I'd just look like an idiot when it all went wrong. At least when you're with the crowd and it still goes wrong, you don't look so bad.

J

J, I found the Michelins were OK to start with but from about 1/2 way through to the legal markers where they are now, the grip under acceleration dropped off dramatically. This was particularly noticable when pulling out on roundabouts etc. on a cold (but not icy) road. However, they never seemed to loose any cornering grip.

Perhaps their redesign to give a longer life involves a slightly harder compund towards the end of the tyre's life? I'm just guessing but that would explain the symptoms I had and the *supposed* increased life.

I've noticed a lot of extra noise from the Dunlops now they're on the front - roll on pay day so I can get some new boots all round.