Not the Usual Tyre Question
Discussion
So, the time has come for some new rubber for my Civic, but I'm not going to ask the usual question - I'm off to Costco for some PS3's, but the question is, how many should I get??
The front two need to be replaced, no question. The problem is that there is a little bit of side-wall damage on one of the rears. As far as I can tell, it's superficial - it happened when I hit a little kerb where I used to work a couple of times.
I'm pretty sure it was like that when I had the car MOT'd last year too and wasn't picked up (or was considered OK).
It hasn't really bothered me too much while it's been on the back, but Costco will want to put the old tyres on the front
and this would bother me a bit.
The rears have a good 5-6mm left in them, but I'm tempted to swap all four just for the peace of mind.
I suppose I could always let Costco swap them rear to front and swap them back myself when the new ones are bedded in.
Any thoughts?
The front two need to be replaced, no question. The problem is that there is a little bit of side-wall damage on one of the rears. As far as I can tell, it's superficial - it happened when I hit a little kerb where I used to work a couple of times.
I'm pretty sure it was like that when I had the car MOT'd last year too and wasn't picked up (or was considered OK).
It hasn't really bothered me too much while it's been on the back, but Costco will want to put the old tyres on the front
and this would bother me a bit.The rears have a good 5-6mm left in them, but I'm tempted to swap all four just for the peace of mind.
I suppose I could always let Costco swap them rear to front and swap them back myself when the new ones are bedded in.
Any thoughts?
LukeSi said:
Hmm how many would you need to go round the wheel and surely they would be broken within one drive.
Ohhh, humour. Ar ar! 
Reading my post back, I see I wasn't completely clear. I understand about putting new tyres on the back and I wouldn't normally have an issue with it, it's just in this particular case, i'd rather leave the (slightly) damaged one on the rear. They do still have quite a lot of tread left, after all.
Probably will go for all four, but it does go against the grain to scrap tyres with so much tread left!!
Grrrrr!
Buy two, put the new ones on the back, moving the old ones to the front. If you can't see the structural chords of the tyre then the cut/damage is acceptable (providing it doesnt bulge out).
Save your money, 5-6mm is about 40% worn. So changing them would be throwin away 60% of the usuable life of your tyres. Would you service your car at 4000 miles if the interval was 10000? Or after 4 or 5 months if it was required annually?
Save your money, 5-6mm is about 40% worn. So changing them would be throwin away 60% of the usuable life of your tyres. Would you service your car at 4000 miles if the interval was 10000? Or after 4 or 5 months if it was required annually?
LukeSi said:
On a serious note on FWD cars the new rubber should always go on the back.
Not this again!That is the 'standard advice' yes, with something of a lowest-common-denominator spin to it. For a competent driver with reasonable dynamic understanding, on any car the new rubber should go on the end you consider best for your particular car, usage, driving style and preference.
Edited by GravelBen on Saturday 12th March 06:35
GravelBen said:
LukeSi said:
On a serious note on FWD cars the new rubber should always go on the back.
Not this again!That is the 'standard advice' yes, with something of a lowest-common-denominator spin to it. For a competent driver with reasonable dynamic understanding, on any car the new rubber should go on the end you consider best for your particular car, usage, driving style and preference.
Edited by GravelBen on Saturday 12th March 06:35
Lanby said:
Why is it recommended to put new tyres on the back rather than the front?
It's related to standing water. Tyres with less tread will (generally) aquaplane before those with more tread. Because FWD cars wear their front tyres much more quickly than the rears, people just want to replace the fronts. So if you just replace the fronts, you have half worn (5mm tread) rears with brand new (8mm tread) fronts.Under these circumstances, when you hit standing water, the rears will lose grip before the fronts, causing oversteer. The thinking is that average drivers (not PH driving gods!) are unlikely to realise what's going on and know what to do, so they lift off and probably spin out.
If the worn tyres are swapped to the front, when average driver hits the standing water, the car understeers, they lift off and (hopefully) everything straightens up and they carry on merrily. (Unless they're in a 205 GTI!!
)Coincidentally, it does mean that you end up buying tyres slightly more frequently - you don't buy more tyres in the long term, but you'll end up buying two tyres every 12-18 months, rather than buying two fronts after two years and then all four after a further two years. (You know what I mean!)
It also means you don't end up with gentle drivers having 6 or 7 year old tyres with plenty of tread left on the rear, but there you go.
The thing with standing water is that a lot of modern tyres push it out to the sides, so the rears often have less to clear than the fronts as the fronts have shifted half of it. Only exception is stuff like Conti's with predominantly straight line grooves.
So I'd ALWAYS put new rubber on the front of a car, and I'd recommend others to do the same. IMHO the 'received wisdom' is nonsense.
So I'd ALWAYS put new rubber on the front of a car, and I'd recommend others to do the same. IMHO the 'received wisdom' is nonsense.
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