Hello, long time lurker & searcher, first post. I have a set of Blizzak LM-25's for my civic SI. The two that were on the drive wheels last winter are about to wear to the first set of wear bars. The other two still have a while to go before they hit the wear bars.

Have been reading on HT and think better traction on the rear wheels is better....should I put the 2 worn winter tires on the front and replace them (2 only) when they hit the wear bars? Then move the rears up to the front and put the two news on the rear?

or do you guys rotate and not care about front or rear tread depth and replace all 4 at once? Looks like this may be one of the last nice weekends to jack my car up...any help would be great! thanks

 

Hi, and welcome to honda-tech!

There are a couple of issues to consider here. The first is the amount of tread depth on your tires, and when to replace them. You refer to the "wear bars". Some winter tires have two sets of wear bars, one set at 6/32" of tread depth and another at 2/32" of tread depth. I assume that when you say they are wearing to the first set, you're referring to 6/32" of tread depth. The Tire Rack notes that, at this tread depth, winter tires lose their winter capabilities, so you may want to consider replacing them at that point, rather than continuing to use them when their winter capabilities are diminished. You can read their article about this by clicking here. I hate the idea of replacing tires before you have to, but you're getting winter tires for their winter capabilities, but once those are gone...

Now, as far as the question of where to put the tires with more tread, there are two schools of thought here, and I think you've captured both of them pretty well. One is to put the tires with more tread on the rear, so that during cornering, the car will understeer (have a tendency to "plow" straight ahead) rather than oversteer (have a tendency for the rear end to swing around on you); understeer is considered safer than oversteer.

The other is to put the tires with more tread on the front. Because front tires wear faster than rear tires on our FWD cars, this will even out the treadwear, so that all four tires wear out at the same time.

This is your decision, of course. As for me, I like to take the latter approach, and put the tires with more tread depth on the front. I also rotate the tires frequently enough so that the difference in tread depth between one pair of tires and the other is never all that great.

HTH

 

I finally remembered to buy a tread gage at the store, and correct, I was talking about the first set of wear bars that show the platform at 6/32. The worn two are at 7/32, and the others at 8/32. Sure looks like a much bigger difference without the gage.

Decided to put the worn two on the rear and if they do go past the platform mid season I'll buy two then.... less shock to the wallet at $105 a piece.

For those of you in the midwest, enjoy this 70 degree weather while it lasts!! It felt kinda funny getting out my skis and winter tires while in my shorts

 

FWIW, I'm in Chicago and I usually swap tires some time around the second week of December and second week of March. Since I'm doing it myself and I have the tires and jack in my garage, I can wait until the first sizable snow, and I can swap back and forth more than once if I really need to (although that's never happened, but the option is there). HTH

 

nsxtasy, winter tires have two sets of wear bars? No ****, I've worked at Discount Tire for almost 4 years and I have never noticed that... haha.

 

Yea, it's a little early to swap them on, but I won't drive more than 5 miles till Thanksgiving, and I don't have a garage (sigh, someday).

To add, the wear bars on these blizzaks aren't the typical rubber bars that span across the tread valley, they're actual colored lines that go around the circumference of the tire on top of the treads.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Gonzob16 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nsxtasy, winter tires have two sets of wear bars? No ****, I've worked at Discount Tire for almost 4 years and I have never noticed that... haha.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, the ones at 6/32" are usually much thinner, and may not go all the way across the tread. The link to the Tire Rack website above has photos.

 

Not to thread jack, but nsxtasy what winter tire do you use?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 00MRSi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Not to thread jack, but nsxtasy what winter tire do you use? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Most of our winter driving is in the GS-R. The winter tires we're using on it are the Michelin Arctic Alpin, which is the predecessor of the Michelin X-Ice Xi2.

I forget what's on the Integra Type R; I got them used on a set of steelies.

If I had to buy a new set of winter tires now, it would be the Bridgestone Blizzak WS-60.

Also note the difference between (a) the so-called "studless winter tires", which include both of these and are intended for maximum traction on snow and ice (at the expense of so-so handling on dry roads and warmer days), and (b) the "performance winter tires", which trade off a bit of snow/ice traction for better handling on dry roads and warmer days.