New tyres

I use tyres on the drive now, or have done the last three times, find it so convenient.

I always rotate wheels also, new tyres on rear old ones on front.

Aside from all the other reasons as posted about that I agree with, you also just get the money at out of your tyres without them getting old and perishing, as on a fair few front wheel drive cars your rears will rot before the tread wear.

With tyres on the drive I jack up the car rotate the wheel and take the ones I want them to change off the car and ready with the back on the car on axel stands.
 
The1nonly1 said:
It was them yes. I'll stick to Michelin brand tyres then.
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I can't really recommend them - I have a set on my truck and while they are excellent in actual wet conditions (paid for themselves in the weather we had at the start of the year) I'd even go as far as to say epic in the wet I'm not so inspired with their dry performance when it is actually dry as in enough to be dusty dry where they become vague and heavy in corners and fuel economy becomes very average despite their high rating for fuel economy.
 
The1nonly1 said:
Thanks. I've read what @Kenai has said too. A question on this then, can I simply move the whole wheel, alloy and tyre, to the front so I go from this:

Front of car
Front Left-------Front Right

Rear Left--------Rear Right

to this:

Front of car
Rear Left--------Rear Right

Front Left-------Front Right

Then get the two 'back tyres' changed?


Edit: I found the answer here and the above doesn't apply unless they are directional tyes but do I have to remove the tyre from the alloy or do I move it all?
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Assuming the wheels are the same size, which they generally will be unless its a RWD car with wider rear tyres, you can typically just move the whole wheel. The fitters should know this and do it anyway when chaging the tyres, certainly will if you ask them.
 
Invertigo said:
Assuming the wheels are the same size, which they generally will be unless its a RWD car with wider rear tyres, you can typically just move the whole wheel. The fitters should know this and do it anyway when chaging the tyres, certainly will if you ask them.
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as said only proviso is if you have a tyre pressure monitoring system fitted if so and you swap wheels around you may need to reset it to your vehicle so it knows which tyre/wheel is fitted where.
 
Invertigo said:
Assuming the wheels are the same size, which they generally will be unless its a RWD car with wider rear tyres, you can typically just move the whole wheel. The fitters should know this and do it anyway when chaging the tyres, certainly will if you ask them.
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gc123 said:
as said only proviso is if you have a tyre pressure monitoring system fitted if so and you swap wheels around you may need to reset it to your vehicle so it knows which tyre/wheel is fitted where.
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Thanks. I was thinking of moving the wheels around myself, then taking it to the garage to get the new tyres fitted to the back wheels.
 
Make sure they balance them on the back, i have been to a couple of places where they try and leave them saying they dont need doing on the rear, or you will have problems when you swap them
 
Thebug said:
Make sure they balance them on the back, i have been to a couple of places where they try and leave them saying they dont need doing on the rear, or you will have problems when you swap them
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Sounds like some cowboys there, i'd never dream of using a wheel thats not been balanced.
 
Edinho said:
If you blow out the rear chances are you'll crash. Blow out the front chances are you won't crash.

To be fair most cars these day don't crash on any tyre failure so its more of a 'its the correct procedure' approach. It harks back to when front wheel drive became popular in the early 80's.
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That's back to front, sorry. Almost all punctures are at the rear. If you puncture at the front, you risk the car pitching nose in and rolling. Puncturing at the rear is just an inconvenience and happens most often because the front tyre has driven over said projectile and aimed it straight at the oncoming, unassuming rear tyre.

Dis86 said:
Why?
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Because putting new tyres on the front and leaving the rears low invokes an oversteer response even in FWD cars. Putting new tyres to the rear keeps grip levels high at the back leaving you at worse, dealing with the ever controllable understeer. Genuinely thought that was common knowledge.
 
Django x2 said:
That's back to front, sorry. Almost all punctures are at the rear. If you puncture at the front, you risk the car pitching nose in and rolling. Puncturing at the rear is just an inconvenience and happens most often because the front tyre has driven over said projectile and aimed it straight at the oncoming, unassuming rear tyre.


Because putting new tyres on the front and leaving the rears low invokes an oversteer response even in FWD cars. Putting new tyres to the rear keeps grip levels high at the back leaving you at worse, dealing with the ever controllable understeer. Genuinely thought that was common knowledge.
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It's interesting, last time I needed to replace the front tyres on my Fiesta, I rang 4 places and asked them what is the best option, thinking in my mind that new tyres go on the back. Every one without question state new tyres go on the front as it does the accelerating and braking. Which doesn't make sense to me, putting the part worn tyres on the front from the back don't magically leave the car an uncontrollable mess, they are no worse at providing grip than the tyres you've just taken off surely?. They make it sound like putting the part worn rears on the front will have you understeering and ploughing into the nearest parked car.

Can only assume they don't want to spend the time changing all the tyres/wheels and rebalancing.
 
VaderDSL said:
Every one without question state new tyres go on the front as it does the accelerating and braking.
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Which is exactly why the new tyres shouldn't go on the front. The advice is not based on getting best braking and acceleration performance, but maintaining control when grip is lost (eg, when aquaplaning).

A driver has much more control over the front wheels - they can influence their steering angle, power, and the majority of the braking force. So if the front starts to lose grip, there are more factors within your control to mitigate it.
Conversely, you have much less influence over the rear wheels. If they start to lose grip, there's often little you can do about it (RWD notwithstanding, but even so, you still don't have as much influence on braking, and none on steering angle).

So it makes sense to always put the newer tyres on the rear wheels as they are the ones you want with the "best" grip on them, as that's often the only factor you can control directly.

VaderDSL said:
Can only assume they don't want to spend the time changing all the tyres/wheels and rebalancing.
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I guess so. But as per post #11, the overwhelming advice is new tyres on the rear for better stability.
 
VaderDSL said:
It's interesting, last time I needed to replace the front tyres on my Fiesta, I rang 4 places and asked them what is the best option, thinking in my mind that new tyres go on the back. Every one without question state new tyres go on the front as it does the accelerating and braking. Which doesn't make sense to me, putting the part worn tyres on the front from the back don't magically leave the car an uncontrollable mess, they are no worse at providing grip than the tyres you've just taken off surely?. They make it sound like putting the part worn rears on the front will have you understeering and ploughing into the nearest parked car.

Can only assume they don't want to spend the time changing all the tyres/wheels and rebalancing.
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That and they know that typically two sets of fronts to one set of rears in a FWD car = $$$

New to rear would mean they'd only ever sell two tyres at a time. New to front means every second visit you're more likely to need to replace all 4 tyres*

*man maths is my own and may not reflect real world.
 
Django x2 said:
That's back to front, sorry. Almost all punctures are at the rear. If you puncture at the front, you risk the car pitching nose in and rolling. Puncturing at the rear is just an inconvenience and happens most often because the front tyre has driven over said projectile and aimed it straight at the oncoming, unassuming rear tyre.


Because putting new tyres on the front and leaving the rears low invokes an oversteer response even in FWD cars. Putting new tyres to the rear keeps grip levels high at the back leaving you at worse, dealing with the ever controllable understeer. Genuinely thought that was common knowledge.
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Then why do continental, one of the largest tyre manufacturers in the world, suggest otherwise? Surely with a high powered FWD car you want maximum grip on the front at all times?
 
Dis86 said:
Then why do continental, one of the largest tyre manufacturers in the world, suggest otherwise? Surely with a high powered FWD car you want maximum grip on the front at all times?
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Correction - Continental still suggest fitting to the rear, unless your manufacturer specifically says to do otherwise.

Edit - as for wanting maximum grip at the front - the winter tyre video demonstrates why having more grip on the driven wheels on a FWD car isn't necessarily always best, albeit in a more extreme lack of grip scenario, the principle scales.
 
My experience of BlackCircles is they took my money but I only found out they were out of stock when I turned up at the fitting centre on the booked time and date.

They are an absolute shambles of a company.

I found ASDA/RAC Tyres strange, ordered the tyres and booked a fitting centre no problems. When I turned up the at the fitting centre, they had no idea who ASDA/RAC tyres were or why they had these tyres delivered to them for fitting to my car!
 
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