tyres front/rear what gives?
Discussion
i read in the telegraph motoring section today that some tyre fitters now obey some kind of unwritten law to put fresh tyres on the rear of front wheel drive cars rather than the front as apparently "most drivers can cope with understeer but not oversteer" what the hells the deal with this? so an aquaplaning car is safer is it? the only people who would be stupid enough to let the fitters get away with that are 40 in an NSL numpties who never push their japanese buzz boxes anywhere near hard enough to promote oversteer. on the other hand you can be pretty sure that the same numpties dont look for standing water etc when steaming down the motorway at 80 in pouring rain and even if they did theyd just stamp on the brakes and end up in the armco. surely it would be so much better to keep the best tyres on the front? even when i had my capri and old style corolla i did that and they were both RWD. having good tyres on the front i beleive is correct so what gives? am i wrong? anyone know where the fitters get their information from?
Paolo
Paolo
It's to do with numpties application of the brakes in any situation. In an understeering car, stamping on the brakes won't doo too much harm. Stamping on them in an oversteering car will probably send it all the way round.
Combine that with FWD oversteer being very unpredictable, and it's a lot safer. I had some oversteer a few weeks ago, a combination of a crap left rear tyre and a greasy roundabout. If the tyre was on the front, the car would have slowly drifted wide. Instead the back end slid wide, i corrected, and the front end then 'snapped' into line.
Luckily there wasn't anyone in the left lane, if there was, it would have been a very nasy accident.
Combine that with FWD oversteer being very unpredictable, and it's a lot safer. I had some oversteer a few weeks ago, a combination of a crap left rear tyre and a greasy roundabout. If the tyre was on the front, the car would have slowly drifted wide. Instead the back end slid wide, i corrected, and the front end then 'snapped' into line.
Luckily there wasn't anyone in the left lane, if there was, it would have been a very nasy accident.
A fitter (and part time rally driver) once explained to me that new tyres are less likely to fail than older ones. He also suggested putting new tyres onto the rear rather than the front.
His explanation was that in the event of a tyre failure, it would be better for it to occur at the front because you could still attempt to control the car. If the backend went you found yourself without any method of correction and unwanted '4 wheel steering'.
Seems logical but any sudden tyre failure is likely to be a bit disastrous!
His explanation was that in the event of a tyre failure, it would be better for it to occur at the front because you could still attempt to control the car. If the backend went you found yourself without any method of correction and unwanted '4 wheel steering'.
Seems logical but any sudden tyre failure is likely to be a bit disastrous!
but not understeer...
mike_e said: A fitter (and part time rally driver) once explained to me that new tyres are less likely to fail than older ones. He also suggested putting new tyres onto the rear rather than the front.
His explanation was that in the event of a tyre failure, it would be better for it to occur at the front because you could still attempt to control the car. If the backend went you found yourself without any method of correction and unwanted '4 wheel steering'.
Seems logical but any sudden tyre failure is likely to be a bit disastrous!
Now way would I prefer a front tryre blow-out to a rear tyre blow-out. I have had three rear tyres blow out and never a front...thank God! Rear tyre always get the most damage and should not IMO be rotated from rear to front. When you drive over debris in the road, the front tyres flick up the debris and it tumbles and is therefore much more likely to damage or even puncture the rear tyre. Fit new tyres on the front...if you have the choice. The Griff has different size front and rear wheels, so no chance for the numpty tyre fitter to decide where he is going to fit MY new tyres!
His explanation was that in the event of a tyre failure, it would be better for it to occur at the front because you could still attempt to control the car. If the backend went you found yourself without any method of correction and unwanted '4 wheel steering'.
That makes absolutely no sense. If you lose a front tyre, its going to have a much bigger impact on steering than losing a back tyre.
Having seen a brand new A4 Quattro go through 540 degrees and hammer into the central reservation after a tyre (I think) went at 80mph today, I think it must be possible to get it horribly wrong regardless of which tyre lets go ! I've always swapped F-R when the fronts were half worn on FWD cars, then chucked all four when the fronts were half worn again. Seems to keep the car balanced throughout the lifespan of the tyres. As for tyre failure being better at the front you've got to be joking 
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