Tyres Advice please

vikingaero

-1

I've rarely seen cars oversteer into accidents. Most accidents I've seen are front end shunts where front end grip has been lost - witness the countless shunts on motorways and A-roads.

The tyre manufacturers do insist on new tyres at the rear. I believe that this is partly due to their own greed and increased sales. Tyres at the rear can last 3-4 times as long as the fronts. If you have a new car with 4 tyres and the front 2 wear, you buy 2 new which are fitted on the rear axle, the worn rears are put on the front axle and they will require replacment sooner.

I'm adamant that new tyres go on the front. Wet braking is more important to me and my tyre supplier, Elite of Rainham, agree. If you have new tyres on the front you will stop better in 99% of situations, be less likely to aquaplane, have more grip in the snow etc.

JQ.

pstuart wrote: »

This is true for most cars but mainly for rear wheel drive.

My front wheel drive cars have new tyres on the front to improve grip and braking - particulaly in the wet - and I don't mind paying for Michelin.

I don't know where you rally but I,ve never been able to go that fast to lose the backend.

No, it's the same for front and rear wheel drive. Putting better rubber on the rear is about improved braking and grip.

If you brake and the front tyres have traction and the rears don't the car is more likely to spin putting you in far greater danger - the rear of the car has greater momentum than the front. Same with wet weather performance if you hit standing water and your best rubber is on the front you are far more likely to spin. So if you do want better handling and grip, particularly in the wet, you need to change your habits.

This is about emergency situations where there are extremes of braking - which is ultimately when you want your tyres to be operating at their optimum. If you're driving around on the open road at the edge of your grip levels then pehaps you need to temper your driving style.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

pstuart wrote: »

This is true for most cars but mainly for rear wheel drive.

My front wheel drive cars have new tyres on the front to improve grip and braking - particulaly in the wet - and I don't mind paying for Michelin.

I don't know where you rally but I,ve never been able to go that fast to lose the backend.

This issue has nothing to do with drive. An understeering car is, for most, more controllable than an oversteering car. Cars with badly-performing tyres on the rear axle will tend to oversteer.

Hintza

Can I just say we are talking a Micra here and not a Bugatti Veron. There will not be a huge amount of difference for the average driver of a Micra so any reasonable tyre will do.

Strider590

Can I just point how difficult it is to get oversteer on a front wheel drive car!?!? even if it has got barely legal rear tyre's!
Unless you drive a Peugeot 106/306 and lift off violently mid corner, your chances of oversteer are minimal to none.

Rear wheel drive is the way to get oversteer, but most of those have electronics to prevent that happening.

masterlumps

i would just replace the tyre that needs replaced tbh, i think you are overanalysing the situation, as has already been mentioned its only a micra

pstuart

Can I go back to sleep now?

Indout96

Lose the Federals (they're cheap crapfit rubbish)

Up until 6 months ago I would have agreed with this but as my new (to me) car had 4 brand new Federals on when I bought it, I have to say I am very impressed with them in both dry & wet, will have to see in snow. There is a small amount of torque steer when accelerating quickly but as I now drive a convertible that could be down to chassis flex and in normal acceleration that disappears.

MasterChief_3

Go to black circles. I saved lots of money when I changed my two front tyres. They also linked me to a garage 2 miles from where I worked and I was able to go in the morning and pick up my car same day in the afternoon. I was surprised to find out they even come to your home if you can get the mobile service available in your area.

bigjl

JQ. wrote: »

No, it's the same for front and rear wheel drive. Putting better rubber on the rear is about improved braking and grip.

If you brake and the front tyres have traction and the rears don't the car is more likely to spin putting you in far greater danger - the rear of the car has greater momentum than the front. Same with wet weather performance if you hit standing water and your best rubber is on the front you are far more likely to spin. So if you do want better handling and grip, particularly in the wet, you need to change your habits.

This is about emergency situations where there are extremes of braking - which is ultimately when you want your tyres to be operating at their optimum. If you're driving around on the open road at the edge of your grip levels then pehaps you need to temper your driving style.

The research and recommendation to put the newest tyres on the rear was done by Michelin, and was only of any benefit for drivers that are inexperienced or not very skilled and unable to judge accurately the change in grip between an axle set of worn tyres and an axle set of new tyres.

This led to some inexperienced and lowly skilled drivers over estimating how much grip they might have available at the rear of the vehicle when the front had new tyres fitted.

Though as it would only show up in certain situations, such as going to fast into a turn and lifting off, especially in FWD cars.

I first read this report when my local Costco said they would only put my two new tyres on the rear, so I went out into the carpark, jacked my car up and took the two loose wheels into the fitting bay, then refitted the new tyres to the front of my car.

There is a much greater risk of having an accident due to not stopping in time, than there ever will in the very small amount of times that an inexperienced driver might lose the back end in a corner.

And before anybody says the or that, or the tyre maker knows best, they don't, they are just erring on the side of caution.

However if you are the kind of driver that has no feel for what the car is doing underneath them then the advice is good, but only for drivers with a relatively low skill level.

The Police and Ambulance Service don't fit the new tyres to the rear, but do change tyres as axle sets most of the time, with the undamaged 2nd tyre being inspected and matched up with another tyre with similar wear levels, they are then matched up on another vehicle at a later date. Or at least that is how they do it in the fitters I use.

And as you may have already realised I am an advanced driver, accident free and worked for year on fast response cars.

It should be noted that every car will have slightly different handling and grip levels, even different cars of the same type with the same type of tyres fitted.


I await the responses from those that believe everything they read who will say I am wrong, they probably think they know how to drive properly aswell.