New tyres - rotate or ditch

[JD82]

Front tyres on the RX450h seem to be wearing a fair bit now... 20k miles and the little tab is maybe only 1/2 mm away on the edge of the tyre. I'll properly measure when I get the chance. It's on Michelin Cross Climates from 2019. The rears are fine... conventional wisdom is put the half worn rears at the front and get new tyres for the rear? Is it ok to mix 2019 and 2023 tyres? Or would you just replace all 4 given the age of them?

[Howard-]

They sound like they're fit for the bin.

[Krikkit]

JD82 said:

Front tyres on the RX450h seem to be wearing a fair bit now... 20k miles and the little tab is maybe only 1/2 mm away on the edge of the tyre. I'll properly measure when I get the chance. It's on Michelin Cross Climates from 2019. The rears are fine... conventional wisdom is put the half worn rears at the front and get new tyres for the rear? Is it ok to mix 2019 and 2023 tyres? Or would you just replace all 4 given the age of them?

I'd swap rears to front and get a new pair fitted, don't worry about the mix.

[Riley Blue]

It's OK to do what you're suggesting. New tyres should always go on the rear and your half-worn 2019 tyres are safe to go on the front.

[otolith]

Given how commonplace staggered setups are these days, it seems unlikely to me that newer tyres on the front is as large an issue as it's often made out to be.

[JD82]

Thanks all - I'm assuming the difference between Cross Climate 2 tyres and Cross Climate 1 tyres (now discontinued) will make minimal real world difference?

[nismocat]

otolith said:

Given how commonplace staggered setups are these days, it seems unlikely to me that newer tyres on the front is as large an issue as it's often made out to be.

All tyre suppliers will disagree.

Understeer is always preferred to oversteer.

[Sheepshanks]

nismocat said:

otolith said:

Given how commonplace staggered setups are these days, it seems unlikely to me that newer tyres on the front is as large an issue as it's often made out to be.

All tyre suppliers will disagree.

Understeer is always preferred to oversteer.

I had this issue on a Merc with staggered set-up when I bought two new front tyres from Costco.

They started to remove the rear wheels to move them to the front and I stopped them. They then refused to do the job and only the intervention of the store's general manager allowed it to go ahead.

Interestingly, the handbook for the car (2005 C Class) said that Mercedes ESP is so good that if replacing a pair of tyres you'll get most benefit by putting them on the front.

[rodericb]

rotate or ditch indeed.

RX450 is mostly front wheel drive so you will want the best tyres on the front. Either get new ones on the front straight away, or rotate them front to back and when you get two new tyres rotate them again so the new ones are on the front (tyre shop should be able to do that for you).

[otolith]

nismocat said:

otolith said:

Given how commonplace staggered setups are these days, it seems unlikely to me that newer tyres on the front is as large an issue as it's often made out to be.

All tyre suppliers will disagree.

Understeer is always preferred to oversteer.

I think I will probably get some oversteer if I swap the 255mm wide tyres on the back of my 3 series for the 225mm wide ones on the front. Likewise the 205mm / 225mm ones on my Elise, or the 225mm / 255mm ones on my Z4M.

In these cars, and many others on the road, you can't put the new tyres on the back, because they are a different size. If it were as large an issue as it is made out to be, this would be a big problem. It doesn't appear that it is.

[wyson]

rodericb said:

rotate or ditch indeed.

RX450 is mostly front wheel drive so you will want the best tyres on the front. Either get new ones on the front straight away, or rotate them front to back and when you get two new tyres rotate them again so the new ones are on the front (tyre shop should be able to do that for you).

https://youtu.be/gSz7cm6MwH0?si=vjuOQbXMX3C8VRM9
https://youtu.be/hLBrNdz7K00?si=alpX3eobgbpUUACD

[ARHarh]

wyson said:

rodericb said:

rotate or ditch indeed.

RX450 is mostly front wheel drive so you will want the best tyres on the front. Either get new ones on the front straight away, or rotate them front to back and when you get two new tyres rotate them again so the new ones are on the front (tyre shop should be able to do that for you).

https://youtu.be/gSz7cm6MwH0?si=vjuOQbXMX3C8VRM9
https://youtu.be/hLBrNdz7K00?si=alpX3eobgbpUUACD

But the RX450h will power the rear wheels if it detects the front wheels are slipping. And really if you are driving a big Lexus quick enough to cause these sorts of issues you are probably driving the wrong car

And is a skid pan really a good demonstration of normal road conditions? And yes I know it gets icy sometimes.

[wyson]

I can think of quite a few motorway exits / junctions where that might be relevant. Very long tight radius bends coming off a high speed motorway run.

[sideways man]

nismocat said:

Understeer is always preferred to oversteer.

Sorry, but I disagree

[jeremyh1]

Not worth it just replace the worn ones
Yesterdays weather would have caught you out with low tyres

Cross climates are very good on my Pug Partner van but I put some on a Vauxhall Movano lwb van and they were not as good I expected

[JD82]

Definitely replacing the worn ones, was more whether to keep the 2x part worn rears and put on the front with the new ones on the back, which I think I will.

[JD82]

JD82 said:

Definitely replacing the worn ones, was more whether to keep the 2x part worn rears and put on the front with the new ones on the back, which I think I will.

Vs buying 4 new ones.

[Sheepshanks]

Exactly how worn are they? I thought the CrossClimates on daughter's car looked pretty worn but when measured there was a shade under 3mm on the front and 4mm on the back (it's FWD but the tyres were rotated).

I had years of battling lease companies on tyres as you'd take the car in with tyres worn flush to the treadwear indicators and the tyre place would measure them as 3mm - once they told the lease company that they'd refuse to authorise new ones.

Michelin say their tyres are good to the legal limit but we live in a fairly rural area and I thought it best not to go into winter with tyres that are fairly worn so I've ordered a set from Costco as they had a minor offer on and delivery will be a month or so.

[LunarOne]

This video says put the new ones on the rear. And those two videos posted about contradict each other!

[MustangGT]

rodericb said:

rotate or ditch indeed.

RX450 is mostly front wheel drive so you will want the best tyres on the front. Either get new ones on the front straight away, or rotate them front to back and when you get two new tyres rotate them again so the new ones are on the front (tyre shop should be able to do that for you).

Agree with the rotate or ditch. Massively disagree with putting new tyres on the front. Always onto the back, you need the rear to be planted to avoid spins etc.