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Re: Tyres fitted to front or rear

Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 7:11 pm
by Rolyan
Having considered it all, we’re going for the new on the rear. On balance, there are far more for that than against, the reasoning makes sense, and there is lots of depth on the rears still.

Thanks for the input.

Re: Tyres fitted to front or rear

Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 10:02 pm
by Jonquirk
One other advantage, particularly on front wheel drive cars, is that wear on the rear can be quite low and you could end up with quite old tyres on the rear axle if they are not moved to the front to finish their duty more rapidly. It also means that you usually end up buying one pair of tyres at a time, instead of four at once.

Re: Tyres fitted to front or rear

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 8:23 am
by vanman
Many years ago I attended a talk by a Dunlop tyre accident investigator. He had set up a little ramp with a dinky toys, took a tyre off the front and sent it down the ramp, it went straight. He then replaced the front and took one of the rear tyres off. This time it spun out of control halfway down the ramp.
Another bit of advice was to always fit the newest tyres to the rear, reason being new tyres are less likely to pick up nails etc. (not always in my experience) anyway to explain, the front tyre runs over the nail and puts it up just in time for the rear to run over it. New tyres with more tread tend to flick the nail clear.

Re: Tyres fitted to front or rear

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 4:48 pm
by jont-
vanman wrote:Another bit of advice was to always fit the newest tyres to the rear, reason being new tyres are less likely to pick up nails etc. (not always in my experience) anyway to explain, the front tyre runs over the nail and puts it up just in time for the rear to run over it. New tyres with more tread tend to flick the nail clear.

That assumes you're driving in a straight line.... (my last puncture was at a training day at North Weald, in a rear tyre) :gear: :steering:

Re: Tyres fitted to front or rear

Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:59 am
by Rolyan
Bizarrely, the most difficult bit was explaining to the fitter on the day what I wanted.

I said “can you put the new ones on the rear, and move the rear ones to the front”. It made sense to me, but it took 4 attempts to explain it, over a 10 minute period.

Re: Tyres fitted to front or rear

Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 2:59 pm
by vanman
A slow thick fitter then :hit:

Re: Tyres fitted to front or rear

Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 6:09 pm
by Rolyan
vanman wrote:A slow thick fitter then :hit:

It was a very strange conversation. :D

Re: Tyres fitted to front or rear

Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:00 pm
by MrToad
My understanding is that it’s not so much about grip as resistance to aquaplaning.

You always want more tread depth at the rear than the front because you can potentially save the situation if the front aquaplanes (ease off, keep everything straight, pray). If the rear tyres do it while you’re cornering then you’re going to spin.

Even the best drivers can’t control oversteer if the back wheels aren’t touching the road.

Re: Tyres fitted to front or rear

Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 8:09 am
by Pumafan
:racing: I suggested fitting my replacement front tyres to the rear this week on the strength of this thread, and was advised to "have the best tyres on the front". Could it be an old woman thing? [img][/img]

Re: Tyres fitted to front or rear

Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2019 8:46 am
by angus
No, it's a lazy fitter thing. I bet if you went there for new back tyres and asked him to put the new tyres on the front you'd get the "best tyres on the back" excuse