too many posters saying they spun out,
it seems they put the best tread on front "BECAUSE ITS FWD!"

Always put best in back PLEASE
THIS IS WHY...
http://www.michelinman.com/tir...ange/
Check out the FORD that desintigrates in the video!

EVERYONE -Rotate them NOW if they're on wrong!
I hope this makes ALL our Holidays a little SAFER!

HAPPY HONDA-DAYS!

 

Well... I am very familiar with the issues involved. And they are correct. Putting the best tread in the rear is safer because it induces understeer, in which the car plows ahead when you try to turn, rather than oversteer, in which the rear end swings around on you. Understeer is safer.

However, keep in mind that they are not suggesting rotating your tires to put the best tread in back; they are only making this recommendation for where to put new tires, not for how to rotate your tires.

Rotation is a different matter entirely. The purpose of rotating your tires is to even out tire wear, so that you don't have some tires wearing out faster than others. On a FWD car, the front tires usually wear faster than the rear tires. If your goal is to get all four tires to wear out at the same time, you're better off putting the tires with more wear in front, to "catch up" to the rears in tread depth.

If, instead, you were always rotating your tires to put more tread in the rear, you wouldn't be rotating them at all; once the rears have more tread, that would continue to be the case, and more and more so. This would guarantee that you would always be replacing tires two at a time, never four at a time. It also would create more understeer (because it maximizes the difference in tread depth between front and rear), and IMHO too much understeer isn't a good thing, either.

So the answer is, when you buy new tires, put them in the rear. But after that, rotate your tires periodically, moving the front tires to the rear and the rear tires to the front. That will make all four tires wear at the same rate.

When I can, I like to keep the tread depth about the same, front vs rear, so as not to have too much understeer OR oversteer. This also means that I am trying to wear all four tires out at the same time, which gives me the opportunity to replace all four together (and switch to a different kind of tire if I want). To achieve this, I rotate my tires, always keeping the tires with more tread on the front of the FWD car. However, I'm rotating them frequently enough that the difference in tread depth between front and rear is rarely more than 1/32", and never more than 2/32". So any resulting oversteer is kept to a minimum.

If I ever have to replace fewer than four tires at a time, it usually means that a couple of them aren't quite worn to the point where I want to replace them. Then, there is a BIG difference in tread depth, and yes, I put the new tires on the rear, but so that I can expedite the wearing of the other two tires out (and yes, it helps reduce oversteer in rain).

And if you want your holidays to be safer, check the inflation of your tires regularly, rotate them regularly, and keep an eye on their tread depth. Slow down on wet and slippery pavement; most people don't slow down anywhere near as much as they need to to compensate for the lower traction (5-10 mph is usually not enough). And slow down that much more if your tires are worn. (Tire Rack tests show that braking distances increase dramatically even when your tires have 4/32" of tread depth.)

YMMV.

 

Actually, I know shops that insist on putting new tires on the rear, even if the customer insists otherwise.

Same with winter tires, if the customer is dumb enough to only want two they get put on the rear regardless of what the customer says.

 

good "Rotation" info also!
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nsxtasy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Rotation is a different matter entirely...
...If your goal is to get all four tires to wear out at the same time, you're better off putting the tires with more wear in front, to "catch up" to the rears in tread depth.

If you were always rotating your tires to put more tread in the rear, you wouldn't be rotating them at all...</TD></TR></TABLE>
HOW TRUE that is!
But here's the point...
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nsxtasy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I rotate my tires, always keeping the tires with more tread on the front of the FWD car.

However, I'm rotating them frequently enough that the difference in tread depth between front and rear is rarely more than 1/32", and never more than 2/32". So any resulting oversteer is kept to a minimum.</TD></TR></TABLE>
That is the KEY! ..."Frequent" rotations!
if you do it frequently, you can't tell the difference in handling, and shouldn't be able to tell the difference by sight... without having to measure it!
if you can tell by sight... put the baldy's in back!
(i guess that's what i meant in the title...)

rotating is very cost effective for me, since i like switching all 4 at once...
i get uni-directional tires so i can switch sides also!
i get more tread wear from ALL the tires being up front for about half their lifes!

my places will rotate for free if i bought the tires from them! (otherwise i do it myself)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by old man neri &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Actually, I know shops that insist on putting new tires on the rear, even if the customer insists otherwise.
...regardless of what the customer says.</TD></TR></TABLE>

in our nearby tire shop, they said the same thing...
they even have a big poster of why ...with diagrams and arrows!
i'm sure it's a liability issue!
ex. "Hey! I dont have full coverage, but i just spun off the road and totalled my car, after getting YOUR NEW TIRES on the front, WTF! ...I'm SUING YOU JERKS!"

...that's why they have the posters up!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by WyldRice &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That is the KEY! ..."Frequent" rotations!</TD></TR></TABLE>

No, it isn't. If you only keep the ones with more tread on the rear of a FWD car when you're rotating the tires, then you're NEVER actually going to rotate the tires.

 

I only rotate my tires going from summer to winter rims and vice versa. I found it to be enough.