Best tyres on back?

[NRG1976]

FWD hatchback, my daughter got some new “front” tyres from Costco and they put the “new front” ones on the back axle and moved the old rear axle tyres to the front axle.

I’m assuming that is because they are worried about oversteer or something - is that a normal and sensible thing to do?

Most tyre places I’ve gone to simply change the tyres on the axle and that’s it!

Thanks

[Rough101]

Yeah, that’s Costco’s policy, which mirrors Michelins advice, they’d rather the car understeered than spun when aquaplaning

[Pica-Pica]

Correct, and well done them.
FWD, RWD, AWD it's best tyres on the rear.

[NRG1976]

Thank you, all good then! Appreciate the reassurance.

[Riley Blue]

I've just done the same, new tyres to the back. When I took the car in for a MOT re-test today the inspector looked at the fronts first, perhaps that's what they expect, wrong though it is.

[RacingStripes]

Ignoring the "oversteer, understeer" bks you are stupid not to put the new ones on the rear purely so you dont end up with 15 year old rear tyres that have just been trundling along for 150k.

If you have a matching spare wheel you should chuck that in the rotation too.

[Roboticarm]

Front wheel drive... Best tyres on the front !
Front does the steering and gives the traction, rear just along for the ride.

[RacingStripes]

Roboticarm said:

Front wheel drive... Best tyres on the front !
Front does the steering and gives the traction, rear just along for the ride.

So when you're on your 5th set of fronts and the rears are 10 years old you think thats sensible?

[heebeegeetee]

Roboticarm said:

Front wheel drive... Best tyres on the front !
Front does the steering and gives the traction, rear just along for the ride.

Google it, and I think you'll find every tyre manufacturer and every tyre authority will disagree with you.

It's been done to death, new tyres always on the back. You've got it wrong re your thoughts on what rear tyres do, fwd or not.

[ecsrobin]

Roboticarm said:

Front wheel drive... Best tyres on the front !
Front does the steering and gives the traction, rear just along for the ride.

That’s exactly why the best tyres should be on the rear.

[Panamax]

RacingStripes said:

So when you're on your 5th set of fronts and the rears are 10 years old you think that's sensible?

Don't be such a tight-wad. Just replace the rears after 5 years.

I'm with Roboticam. In FWD I want decent tyres on the front, where the action's going on.

[kambites]

Best approach is to regularly rotate the tyres so they all wear and hence all get replaced at the same time.

As others have said, the next best thing is to put the better tyres, or at least the tyres which are best at dispersing standing water, on the rear. This is especially important on front-engined FWD cars which tend to have very little weight over the rear wheels and hence more tendency to aquaplane there.

[RacingStripes]

Panamax said:

Don't be such a tight-wad. Just replace the rears after 5 years.

I'm with Roboticam. In FWD I want decent tyres on the front, where the action's going on.

Just how reckless are you driving on the road?

[Panamax]

RacingStripes said:

Just how reckless are you driving on the road?

The back of my cars has never overtaken the front. If you've had difficulty in that regard I can understand your caution.

[M4cruiser]

Panamax said:

I'm with Roboticam. In FWD I want decent tyres on the front, where the action's going on.

You haven't thought this through.
After you've had your car 3 months, the front tyres (which wear out quicker) will be worse than the rear ones.
So did you swap them round?

[heebeegeetee]

Panamax said:

RacingStripes said:

Just how reckless are you driving on the road?

The back of my cars has never overtaken the front. If you've had difficulty in that regard I can understand your caution.

Nevertheless, you're still going again industry standard practice of the manufacturers of tyres, who do a bazillion miles of testing in every weather condition every year.

[Panamax]

Roboticarm said:

Front wheel drive... Best tyres on the front !
Front does the steering and gives the traction, rear just along for the ride.

It seems we're in the minority here. May I enquire, how often has the AA needed to rescue you from a ditch?

[NortonES2]

And when you have staggered wheels you might have new tyres on the front or the rear depending which needs replacing.

[NDNDNDND]

You're more likely to need maximum braking performance than you are to fight oversteer - particularly in modern cars with stability control.

Therefore best tyres should be on the front, the industry advice on this is bizarre nonsense.

When they're part worn, swap to the back so the best tyres are always on the front, then aim to swap all four simultaneously.

Anything else is just daft.

[Checkmate]

Best tyres on the front, always. Especially front wheel drive cars. On FWD cars the fronts are doing the power, steering, and almost all of the braking.
Slippy conditions? Use power with your grippy fronts to help. Braking? You want the ones with the most tread. And the fronts do most of the braking. Avoiding a thing? Being able to steer is very good. What are your rear wheels doing here? I feel catching a slightly wayward rear is much easier than a nose that wants to go straight on because you have pap tyres on the front.
I've driven hot hatches for the last 20 years, I'd like to think I'm ok at it.

Think it's the same for the RWD and 4WD cars I have had before, too. Front tyres where lots is going on is more important.