Costco tyre policy, crazy or some logic behind it

DazQ87

DazQ87

DazQ87

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Right so I've just come back from my local costco, I was trying to replace the front two tyres on my focus ST which are pretty much on the legal limit.

Aside from the customer service issues I ran into which is another matter, I was told that they would be putting my new tyres on the rear of my car and swapping the older part worn firestones which are on the back to the front.

I left them at this point, mainly because of the 3 hour wait I was told to expect and the fact that I wanted my nice new Mitchelin pilot sport 3s on the front not my half worn firestones...

Is there any reason for this, when I questioned the guy behind the counter it was "worldwide policy" and something to do with "health and safety" perhaps I am missing something or haven't been educated in tyres enough, but my assumption would be for a fairly powerful FWD car I would want my best tyres on the front...
 
I remember an old 5th gear ( I think) done back to back tests proving better tyres had more affect on track times with them being on the rear of the car. In reality, I doubt it matters much.

But there is no such 'policy' you ask them to replace the fronts and they replace the fronts. Probably someone in there thinking they know better than you.
 
S2KIP is right, if you have too much grip at the front relative to the rear you will oversteer. This will likely happen when pressing on and/or in bad weather, and that's not the ideal situation for correction.
 
Costco are the worst for this sort of thing

Wouldn't sell me 4 tyres many moons ago because it was a different size to what was on the car it didn't matter that I showed them the handbook stating the size I wanted was a manufacturer approved alternative size so in the end I went elsewhere and still do there loss
 
their policy is the opposite of what ive always been taught and done. if rears are worn out put new ones on the front and front wheels on the back if they are the same size. always have the best tyres on the driving wheels. focus st is fwd. also fwd oversteer is easier to correct than rwd.
 
Damo667 said:
their policy is the opposite of what ive always been taught and done. if rears are worn out put new ones on the front and front wheels on the back if they are the same size. always have the best tyres on the driving wheels. focus st is fwd. also fwd oversteer is easier to correct than rwd.
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In a RWD car oversteer is usually power induced, so you can reduce/balance power and regain traction. In a FWD car oversteer is too much speed, and you can only slow down.. which you can't do very well when going sideways. The easiest thing to manage is understeer in a FWD car.
 
having raced both fwd and rwd cars id prefer a bit oversteer any day. its more predictable than understeer and in a fwd car understeering just leads to trouble. only car ive raced fwd that wouldnt understeer at all and handled on rails was my vauxhall nova stockrod. it had negative camber front left wheel and a locked diff. if you let go of the wheel it steered right and the more you put your foot down the more it pulls you into the corner.

my 250cc kart was a nightmare so short wheelbase any kind of twitch or out of shape is amplified 3x as much as a car. even at 100mph braking heavy it would squirm all over without the rear wing. with it on perfectly straight but on a 260m straight youd hit 97mph instead of 102mph.
 
I hadn't really though about understeer, I was basing my logic on if I slam on the anchors, the weight of car will be shifting forwards and therefore I want the best tyres on the front to have the best stopping distance.

Either way I am off to pick up some eagle F1s later this afternoon anyway, costco can keep their tyres as far as I'm concerned.
 
Damo667 said:
having raced both fwd and rwd cars id prefer a bit oversteer any day. its more predictable than understeer and in a fwd car understeering just leads to trouble. only car ive raced fwd that wouldnt understeer at all and handled on rails was my vauxhall nova stockrod. it had negative camber front left wheel and a locked diff. if you let go of the wheel it steered right and the more you put your foot down the more it pulls you into the corner.

my 250cc kart was a nightmare so short wheelbase any kind of twitch or out of shape is amplified 3x as much as a car. even at 100mph braking heavy it would squirm all over without the rear wing. with it on perfectly straight but on a 260m straight youd hit 97mph instead of 102mph.
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That's all great, but this is for public roads. Going around a wet bend in a FWD car and having the rear end step out, rather than bit of understeer, is not preferable in terms of controllability
 
PMKeates said:
In a RWD car oversteer is usually power induced, so you can reduce/balance power and regain traction. In a FWD car oversteer is too much speed, and you can only slow down.. which you can't do very well when going sideways. The easiest thing to manage is understeer in a FWD car.
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understeer is going too fast. you are turning the wheel to more of an angle than the corner you are going round. oversteer in fwd is mainly due to someone being on the power too late into a corner they lift off, the front tyres gain a huge amount more grip and the back end is out. with a fwd you can be almost facing backwards and still recover it in a rwd once you pass so far you are spinning regardless. exactly why in 1995 the btcc audi a4 on tracks like knockhill was smashing up the fwd and rwd cars and they ended up not allowing 4wd eventually.

its sounds completly backwards logic to put your worst tyres on the driving wheels. especially on a road car. if it understeers you end up where? on the wrong side of the road. the point is tho if someone is going fast enough to understeer or oversteer in a road car then they are going to fast for the conditions.
 
Damo667 said:
oversteer in fwd is mainly due to someone being on the power too late into a corner they lift off, the front tyres gain a huge amount more grip and the back end is out.
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Not when you have a lot less grip on the rear than you do the front. If your front wheels can retain grip on a corner at speed X, and your rear wheels can retain grip at speed X - 10, then go around that corner in a perfectly balanced fashion at speed X and you will lose grip at the rear.
Damo667 said:
its sounds completly backwards logic to put your worst tyres on the driving wheels. especially on a road car. if it understeers you end up where? on the wrong side of the road. the point is tho if someone is going fast enough to understeer or oversteer in a road car then they are going to fast for the conditions.
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The idea is to put the best tyres on the rear in all cars, to minimise the chance of oversteer. Understeer is easy to correct and control, oversteer is not.
 
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Pretty common logic that you always put your best tyres on the rear on a car with the same sized tyres all round.
 
If you drive fast in the wet then put the new tyres on the rear, as lift off oversteer is much more likely to be provoked.

If you take it easy around corners in the wet then i would personally put the better tyres upfront for reduced understeer and better braking .
 
I thought people always do this because on FWD, fronts wear faster.

I wouldn't care much about the handling aspect. Public road, chance if losing control is unlikely if you drive to the conditions and chances are most people wouldn't be able to control it due to lack of exp.
 
Suggesting it is one thing but insisting on it is a bit much IMO. Last time I had tyres fitted I was told they recommend fitting the new ones on the back, I wasn't fussed and said OK. He then started to say that they always rebalance tyres and that would be £x per wheel at which point I told them to fit the new ones to the front and leave the backs where they were!
 
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