Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

[bruceb58]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

It would be both a matter of finances, and the thought of making unneeded waste for me. If I have a car with 2 worn out tires, and 2 tires that are at 5-6/32 or better, I'm not gunna toss 2 perfectly serviceable tires just to say I have 4 fresh ones.

I would! Here is my logic. Once you go down that path, you are always going to be replacing two tires every time right? Bite the bullet and replace 4 and you will likely always be replacing 4 thereafter. If the two "good tires" have 1/2 or less tread on them, its equivalent of wasting the price of one tire. Go out to dinner 2 times less this month and you just made it up.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

Go out to dinner 2 times less this month and you just made it up.

Your tires must be awfully cheap, or the dinners awfully expensive

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

There is no point in wasting money on services you don't need, pretty easy to see if you have an alignment issue by just looking at the tires.

Actually, its not quite so. You can be out of alignment and not have obvious tire wear. Problem is that once you see it happening on a tire, its basically too late to do anything to save that tire and you just wasted probably 6 times the price of an alignment for what the tires just cost. In addition, in the process of doing an alignment, it is very possible for the tech doing the alignment to discover a worn out suspension part which would also save you the cost of damaging your brand new tires. To me, the alignment cost is money well spent.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

Your tires must be awfully cheap, or the dinners awfully expensive

My favorite dinner is Sushi!! They have that up in MN?

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

My favorite dinner is Sushi!! They have that up in MN?

Yup $9 in the refrigerated section at byerlys, but you always seem to have to cook it yourself

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

Yup $9 in the refrigerated section at byerlys, but you always seem to have to cook it yourself

Good response!

 

[rbh]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

Well the connection speed finally got good enough to watch the entire 3 min video in under 12 minutes.

And YUP, there is mud in my face.

But in my defense, who drives like that when the roads are that wet or slippery or is it just people avoiding police capture?

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

Tim, what do those words in red above my quote say?

UGH is the text equivalent to the hand over face. (or it does for me anyways)

And why would anyone want to run their worst tires ("based on the original thread title") on the axle that does most of the work?

We are not discussing what to do with "worst" tires....the question, as you keep pointing out, is where to put 2 NEW tires.
The simple (and correct) answer is ON THE REAR.
The OP , brought up safety...and others then pointed out that if there is any concern about any of the tires, change them, even if it means ALL 4.
To the OP's question, there is an implicit understanding that he means that only two tires are being replaced because the remaining two are absolutely safe in terms of thread and age.
In that case, as I said, the correct action is to put the tires with the most tread on the back wheels.

Or as Popular Mechanics says in an article titled ~ 6 Common Tire Myths Debunked :

2. The Myth : When replacing only two tires, the new ones go on the front.

The truth: Rear tires provide stability, and without stability, steering or braking on a wet or even damp surface might cause a spin. If you have new tires up front, they will easily disperse water while the half-worn rears will go surfing: The water will literally lift the worn rear tires off the road. If you're in a slight corner or on a crowned road, the car will spin out so fast you won't be able to say, "Oh, fudge!"

There is no "even if" to this one. Whether you own a front-, rear- or all-wheel-drive car, truck, or SUV, the tires with the most tread go on the rear. Don't believe it? Watch this . Install Two New Tires on the Rear Axle - YouTube

or Where to mount two new tires - YouTube or New Tires Front or Rear - What Do Tire Experts Recommend? - YouTube

This probably will not be enough to convince you :facepalm: , but maybe you will at least admit that there is some reasonably competent opinion lined up against you.....The tire industry, the auto industry, the auto repair industry, the Canada Safety Council, amongst others.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

Well the connection speed finally got good enough to watch the entire 3 min video in under 12 minutes.

And YUP, there is mud in my face.

But in my defense, who drives like that when the roads are that wet or slippery or is it just people avoiding police capture?

Hopefully my "discussion" of this stayed on the good side of "smart-a**ed" and wasn't smug.
I only know this after an argument with my mechanic about where to put two new snows on an AWD vehicle. He put them on the back and when I explained to him why he was out to lunch....he explained to me why he wasn't!

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

So I guess the moral of this thread is that a mans tires are his to do with what he pleases....

Put them on the front, put them on the back, buy 2, buy 4, make a yard planter out of them...
To the point of the original posters contribution, I have always placed the two fresh tires I installed on the drive axle. Call me stupid, or ill informed. My thoughts are that if you have 4 tires, all with the same legal tread thickness, nobody takes the time to make a video, or write a magazine article about your tires. Introduce 2 fresh tires to the party, and put them on the "wrong" axle, and all the sudden you're in grave danger. Those 2 serviceable tires on the car are now thought of as being the equivalent of bald, and your car is guaranteed to wipe out while doing S turns on drenched pavement at 60 miles an hour.

Of course as tread depth diminishes, you may be more likely to hydroplane at high speeds, but what happened to the personal responsibility of driving your vehicle based on the conditions at hand? If its pouring rain, or snowing, I'm not gunna be driving at a speed that easily permits my tires from breaking free from the road surface.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

Hopefully my "discussion" of this stayed on the good side of "smart-a**ed" and wasn't smug.
I only know this after an argument with my mechanic about where to put two new snows on an AWD vehicle. He put them on the back and when I explained to him why he was out to lunch....he explained to me why he wasn't!

That is a whole other discussion - what he should have told you is that running mismatched tires on an AWD is a great way to screw up the center diff <discuss>

 

[rbh]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

That is a whole other discussion - what he should have told you is that running mismatched tires on an AWD is a great way to screw up the center diff <discuss>

^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Now there is a true S%^! disturber



Tim only moderately smug, but used to it by now.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

So I guess the moral of this thread is that a mans tires are his to do with what he pleases....

Put them on the front, put them on the back, buy 2, buy 4, make a yard planter out of them...
To the point of the original posters contribution, I have always placed the two fresh tires I installed on the drive axle. Call me stupid, or ill informed. My thoughts are that if you have 4 tires, all with the same legal tread thickness, nobody takes the time to make a video, or write a magazine article about your tires. Introduce 2 fresh tires to the party, and put them on the "wrong" axle, and all the sudden you're in grave danger. Those 2 serviceable tires on the car are now thought of as being the equivalent of bald, and your car is guaranteed to wipe out while doing S turns on drenched pavement at 60 miles an hour.

Of course as tread depth diminishes, you may be more likely to hydroplane at high speeds, but what happened to the personal responsibility of driving your vehicle based on the conditions at hand? If its pouring rain, or snowing, I'm not gunna be driving at a speed that easily permits my tires from breaking free from the road surface.

No, the moral of the thread is that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him put the shoes with the most tread on his rear hooves.
I'd never call you stupid.... but now that you are well-informed, if you choose to ignore a preponderance of evidence, that might not be your smartest action ever.....

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

That is a whole other discussion - what he should have told you is that running mismatched tires on an AWD is a great way to screw up the center diff <discuss>

He did....that is one of the reasons I use his garage....

All four are identical Yoko's...set of 4 replaced at same time, two fronts got destroyed at ~ 10K....the advice was 1) replace all 4 anyway is best....2) if only replacing 2....they go on back. The vehicle is a ten YO Subaru....I chose door #2 ....

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Now there is a true S%^! disturber
Tim only moderately smug, but used to it by now.

Ouch...I'll work on the "smug"....smart-a***ed can be annoying....smug is a downright pain in the ace.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

Well, I sure didn't expect all this. Turned into a regular Ford/Chevy thread! In order to preserve some semblance of peace, I'll keep my own decision to myself!

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

but now that you are well-informed, if you choose to ignore a preponderance of evidence, that might not be your smartest action ever.....

I've acted "not smart" on this action thousands of times before.... hasn't bitten me yet. I'll take the evidence into consideration though.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

The law in Washington State and in California is that new tires must me installed in the rear. Years ago, I was at an auto show. Volkswagen had a little exhibit that consisted of two little model cars and a wood ramp that was a couple of feet long and at about a 30? angle.

One of the little model cars had the front wheels locked and the rear wheels were allowed to turn. The other was just the opposite. The front wheels were allowed to turn and the rear wheels were locked solid.

If you put the locked front wheel car at the top of the ramp and let it slide down the ramp, it went straight down. When you put the LOCKED REAR car at the top of the ramp and let it slide down the ramp, it immediately started doing loop de loops, all the way to the bottom. This made no matter whether the car was front or rear wheel drive.

I think that wiser heads have prevailed in this argument. Better traction in the rear is safer for the control of your car.

 

[beermak]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

front tires tracction, brake and steer.

id put news always up front

but id replace 4 in the same time with alignment. Although if 2 need replacement and considering all 4 are equal size they shouldnt be replaced in pairs, the should wear in same portion all 4. If so, theres something wrong in the car, alignment, shocks, tire pressure or rotation. Id solve the problem and replace 4 fresh nu tires!

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Two new tires - front or rear? (front wheel drive)

FWIIW, both Washington and Oregon use seasonal studded tires. If you have a frontwheel drive car and only want two studded tires, dealers will only install them on the rear wheels.

Years ago I was in Mammoth Lakes during a big snow storm. Into the condo parking area comes a little Honda Civic with the chain on the rear wheels. He had just come up the Sherwin Grade where they were required to chain up. The California Highway patrol made him install the chains on the rear wheels. I'd never heard of that before and thought it was pretty goofy, but later evidence showed me that even though you might have poor traction on the front drive wheels, the real danger was losing control of the rear end.