Best two tyres. Fit to front or Rear of FWD car.

[busta]

I find the best approach is to always put new tyres on the right. That way, when I walk towards my car it looks newer.

[Deva Link]

busta said:

I find the best approach is to always put new tyres on the right. That way, when I walk towards my car it looks newer.

I changed the fronts on my Merc because they'd scrubbed. They passed 2 MOTs but from the kerb-side they looked bad, so I changed them.

(Different sizes front & year so no agonising over where to fit them, although it did take the intervention of the site manager at Costco to get their tyre guys to agree to fit them).

[Celt]

I got 2 cheapo tyres put on the back for my mot. Drove up my road onto an nsl, back end stepped out didn't drive any differently than would have before. Slightly damp wasn't raining. But iv never had any problems like that before. I'm not saying I'm a driving god, I was well out of my depth. Just lucky I was fully concentrating. So I would echo the better tyres displace water better. So would rather have them on the back.

[heebeegeetee]

Celt said:

I got 2 cheapo tyres put on the back for my mot. Drove up my road onto an nsl, back end stepped out didn't drive any differently than would have before. Slightly damp wasn't raining. But iv never had any problems like that before. I'm not saying I'm a driving god, I was well out of my depth. Just lucky I was fully concentrating. So I would echo the better tyres displace water better. So would rather have them on the back.

D'you know what, thinking about it, I've read lots of posts on PH from people who have had the back of his car step out for no apparent reason, but i've read hardly any (if any at all) posts from anyone who has run into the back of the car in front, or failed to stop when needed to.

[Kong]

Best tyres on the rear has alwasy been the consensus, less likely that the car will spin. But because this is PH and everyone is a driving god with F1 reactions who can catch the backend in a microsecond then the poll will be more even.

[heebeegeetee]

Kong said:

Best tyres on the rear has alwasy been the consensus, less likely that the car will spin. But because this is PH and everyone is a driving god with F1 reactions who can catch the backend in a microsecond then the poll will be more even.

I do forget that.

[JB!]

i always replace in pairs.

if the fronts are dead, put new ones on the front, if the rears are dead, new ones on the front and "good" fronts on the rear.

[sebhaque]

Wow, 50-50. I always went for the fronts, although if I had a matching set of shoes I'd always swap them around every now and then to let them wear evenly. It bugs me that I can't do it on my VXT as the fronts are skinny 175s and the rears are nice fat 225s.

edit: 165 -> 175.

Edited by sebhaque on Sunday 3rd October 23:25

[parapaul]

911p said:

So 50% of 123 voters said back? And I just checked and 50% of 149 voters now say back.

Who the fk cast half a vote? Come on, own up!

[Baz T]

Front, but it really depends on driver.

I'm happy to correct oversteer rather than find understeer, at which point it could be too late...

[Silent1]

Baz T said:

Front, but it really depends on driver.

I'm happy to correct oversteer rather than find understeer, at which point it could be too late...

Have you ever experienced overseers in an FWD car? It's not just a quick flick to get it back, if you cock it up you're just going to hit the post with the opposite side of the car

[busta]

Silent1 said:

Baz T said:

Front, but it really depends on driver.

I'm happy to correct oversteer rather than find understeer, at which point it could be too late...

Have you ever experienced overseers in an FWD car? It's not just a quick flick to get it back, if you cock it up you're just going to hit the post with the opposite side of the car

Looking at his garage, i'd say he's fairly familiar with it.

[TheRoadWarrior]

busta said:

Silent1 said:

Baz T said:

Front, but it really depends on driver.

I'm happy to correct oversteer rather than find understeer, at which point it could be too late...

Have you ever experienced overseers in an FWD car? It's not just a quick flick to get it back, if you cock it up you're just going to hit the post with the opposite side of the car

Looking at his garage, i'd say he's fairly familiar with it.

[kambites]

Dan Friel said:

Agree with all that's said about having the best on the rear and it's prompted me to buy some new tyres. The main problem with the rotating approach is that you end up swapping the worn fronts onto the rear - same old problem. If you do it, it needs to be done very frequently.

I do it every 5k miles or so, which keeps the tyres within something like 1mm of each-other. It only takes about twenty minutes.

[kambites]

busta said:

Silent1 said:

Baz T said:

Front, but it really depends on driver.

I'm happy to correct oversteer rather than find understeer, at which point it could be too late...

Have you ever experienced overseers in an FWD car? It's not just a quick flick to get it back, if you cock it up you're just going to hit the post with the opposite side of the car

Looking at his garage, i'd say he's fairly familiar with it.

But that's not really the question anyway, is it. The correct question is "have you ever experienced rear-end-only aquaplaning in a car?". I have reasonable enough car control but if the back end suddenly loses all grip and the front is still gripping, it's fecking scary. It's only ever happened to me in a straight line (on the motorway) and I still nearly span.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

Look at any video of a car loosing control on the Mway, the rear pretty much always looses grip and flips round.
It has nothing to do with skill (even the most skilled PH'er can be caught out in a panic braking situation). It has nothing to do with FWD/RWD. 50% of the voters are wrong. Best tyres to rear.

[Snails]

When i first purchased my car (fwd) the fronts needed replacing so on went a pair of Uniroyal Rainexperts, brilliant. The car stopped understeering all the time. I hadn't however counted on oversteer. The first time this came to my attention was at about 15-20 mph on a slightly damp roundabout. The Uniroyals gripped but the Nankangs on the rear completely let go. Luckily I managed to steer into it and regain control. It scared the hell out of me as it was the first time I'd ever experienced oversteer.

It was at that point it wasn't worth replacing the fronts alone and leaving 'ditchfinders' on the rear.

The Nakangs were replaced straight away and i've had no such issues.

Edited by Snails on Monday 4th October 08:37

[JB!]

Fronts only last 4k anyway. Rears, if new, 12k.

[heebeegeetee]

doogz said:

I put new tyres on the front, if it's a FWD car. The only time you're really going to experience oversteer in a FWD car, is if you hit standing water at speed, OR if you've already experienced some understeer.

I.e. going into a roundabout, pushing on a bit. You're going to get understeer before you get oversteer, unless you're driving like an utter fud, in which case, tyres aren't going to save you anyway. Driving the MINI, i've never experienced oversteer without understeer, or perhaps not actual understeer, but turning in, and backing off, to provoke oversteer.

I can see the point people are making about wanting the most grip on the rear to prevent oversteer, but in my experience, FWD car's don't oversteer without being provoked, or without you going fast enough to have experienced some understeer already.

Or, option 3, the driver is a tool. In which case, they shouldn't be driving anyway.

Hmm. My old R5 GTurbo would oversteer at every corner in the damp with nothing more than a flick of the right foot. I became aware that a proper rally driver could have that car sideways everywhere. Understeer was virtually none-existent, indeed a tad more would have been nice.

Pug 205's are worse (or better, depending on what you're after) which is why they are still very popular in motorsport.

[TheRoadWarrior]

Snails said:

When i first purchased my car (fwd) the fronts needed replacing so on went a pair of Uniroyal Rainexperts, brilliant. The car stopped understeering all the time. I hadn't however counted on oversteer. The first time this came to my attention was at about 15-20 mph on a slightly damp roundabout. The Uniroyals gripped but the Nankangs on the rear completely let go. Luckily I managed to steer into it and regain control. It scared the hell out of me as it was the first time I'd ever experienced oversteer.

It was at that point it wasn't worth replacing the fronts alone and leaving 'ditchfinders' on the rear.

The Nakangs were replaced straight away and i've had no such issues.

Edited by Snails on Monday 4th October 08:37

Yes but having new good quality tyres on the front and old-nankag-ditch-finders on the rear isn't exactly a fair comparison. Of course it'll oversteer!

No one is disputing that having poor quality(wet/dry) or low tread(wet) tyres on the back will make a car more biased to oversteer but if your car is dangerously oversteering on a wet roundabout at 10-15mph then your rear tyres are either
a) Utter gash compared to the fronts or
b) Obviously less than legal tread or
c) You were booting it.