Tyre Advice

[davemac250]

After some adice on where to fit new tyres.

I had a blow out on one of my winter tyres last year and have bought a pair to replace and keep the same tyres on the same axle - I cannot get the same as the remaining two.

The 'old' tyres did one season and are too good to bin, so advice of buy four will be ignored!

The car is a Saab 9-5, conventional wisdom would be to fit the new tyres to the rear to reduce the chances of oversteer and rear blow out.

However, these are snow tyres for a reason (I live where it snows, a lot) and as such the wheels needing the added extra grip are the driven wheels i.e the front.

So a quandry, which axle do I put the new tyres on?

[PIGINAWIG]

I think Halfords do 'dice'

[davemac250]

Really, I'd have thought you would have known.

[GravelBen]

I'd put them on the front. The 'conventional wisdom' of always putting new tyres on the rear is dumbed down for the lowest common denominator, you should put them on the end which best suits the car and situation.

Edited by GravelBen on Wednesday 12th October 07:40

[Dilligaf10]

You really need to get another pair of winter tyres.

We put a pair of winter tyres on our Kia Sedona (FWD) a couple of years ago and whilst it pulled through the snow well the rear had a mind of its own, almost undriveable. Another pair put on the back, hey presto, no more problems.

[GravelBen]

Dilligaf10 said:

You really need to get another pair of winter tyres.

I read the OP as saying he has 4 winter tyres, but two of them are new and two are a year old.

[Classic Grad 98]

For me it'd depend on how much tread is left on the used ones... less than 4mm and I'd be buying four. Otherwise put the worn ones on the rear.
The ABS would be working a bit harder on the rear axle though I suspect.

[crolandc]

I would deffo go for new on front for winter tyres on fwd car. You need the most tread you can get on the driven wheels

[davemac250]

Going how I thought.

Yes all tyres are winters.

The two 'old' ones were on the rear last year and have done about 6k miles - limited wear.

One of the fronts was damaged and burst the sidewall (Hit a bit of debris on the autobahn). They were down to around 4 mm so changed the pair, and I couldn't buy a match this year anyway and mixed tyres on an axle here are a no-no.

I'll go with the new on the front and try an avoid half bricks.

Cheers

[Dilligaf10]

GravelBen said:

I read the OP as saying he has 4 winter tyres, but two of them are new and two are a year old.

Whoops, speed reading let me down!

[Maximum Bobs]

Dilligaf10 said:

Whoops, speed reading let me down!

Speed reading? The op is six lines long, how much of a hurry are you in?

I'd personally put the new on the front for wear reasons. The driven wheels will wear quicker so the older tyres will last longer if you put them on the back. As for different grip front or back I highly doubt if it would make the slightest difference as the older tyres have only seen one winter.