New tires to the rear for safety

[Merkava_4]

If you buy two new tires at America's Tire, they automatically go to the rear.

The manager said it's for safety reasons.

The tires I had on the rear were one General and one Michelin. I wanted to keep the Michelin on the rear because it rides like a concrete wheel, and besides that, it's a $130 tire. I wanted to get as much life out of that tire as possible, and being that the alignment never changes on the rear, I wanted the Michelin to stay back there. The two new soft riding Generals I wanted up front.

When I got the car home, up on 4 jack stands it went.

 

[GreenFocus]

You should have made your wishes explicitly clear before handing over the keys, and have them rotter the tires to correct positions before paying or leaving the store.
Did the manager explain why the new tires on the back are safer?

 

[bdcardinal]

New tires always go on the rear. Every major tire manufacturer recommends it.

 

[JHZR2]

Mismatched tires? Yikes.

 

[Merkava_4]

Since the tires I was replacing were on the front, I ASSUMED that's where the new tires would go. I didn't have the faintest idea they'd be going on the rear. The manager never did explain what the safety reason was. And speaking of mismatched tires, wouldn't it be better to have the mismatched tires on the rear?

 

[Chris142]

here they have a video in the waiting room explaining why the new go on the rear.

 

[sxg6]

This topic came up recently in the thread below.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3404547/1

 

[Rand]

yawn, discussed about 6x in last few months.

 

[boundarylayer]

New tires go on the rear because they resist hydroplaning more when new, and the car is automatically directionally more stable if the front tires hydroplane before the rear tires might.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
When I got the car home, up on 4 jack stands it went.


Problem solved!

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
And speaking of mismatched tires, wouldn't it be better to have the mismatched tires on the rear?


I wouldn't want mismatched tires on an axle, period.

 

[CapitalTruck]

You want the front to "break out" before the rear. Understeer is a lot easier for the everyman to fix than oversteer.

 

[901Memphis]

New tires on the rear is the correct place for safety.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=52

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSz7cm6MwH0

 

[Nick1994]

Oh god here we go again...

Personally I like new tires up front.

They're balanced better, match, and won't make the steering wheel vibrate.

It doesn't rain where I live, and I don't make high speed turns in the rain at 60 mph on a slick race track (rubberized asphalt here) like those videos where they cause the car to spin out.

They want your 2 worst tires to wear faster as they typically do up front so you can buy tires again.

 

[901Memphis]

Because they're sure your going to buy your next set of tires from them right?

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Because they're sure your going to buy your next set of tires from them right?


Sure, why not?

The average person would accept what they say as fact and would not even notice which tires are where and wouldn't care. If they got pleasant service that's probably where they'd go next.

Do you not have a tire shop/ auto repair shop of choice?

 

[Rolla07]

I just rotate and use up my tires so all 4 wear evenly..problem solved. Always 4 of the same. Time to replace..i replace all 4. Ive always heard new ones go on the back though.

 

[d00df00d]

Never in my life would I put the better tires on the rear axle. Even on my car, which is rear-wheel drive and more prone to oversteer than 99.9% of (stock) cars on the road.

It blows my mind that all tire shops recommend putting the better tires on the rear axle. Yes, you reduce the chance of oversteer. You also sacrifice braking distances and the ability to steer in bad conditions. Who on earth would think that's a good idea?

That's especially true given that oversteer is essentially nonexistent for virtually all cars on the road, even in bad conditions with badly mismatched tires. Almost all cars are front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, which are inherently understeer-prone; virtually all cars, even if they're rear-wheel drive, are set up to do nothing but understeer unless they're deliberately and severely provoked. Even in the extremely rare cases when oversteer does happen, it's little more than a tiny squirm -- maybe enough to make the driver pucker, but not enough to cause an accident -- and it can almost always be compensated for by the driver.

By contrast: Braking distances are always important and a lot less forgiving. Bad tire choice always compromises braking, and when you can't stop in time, there's no way around it.

The only explanation I can imagine for the "new tires in the back" rule is that the tiny chance of a little squirm in the rear end feels worse to the everyday driver than the prospect of not being able to stop in time. I get that, but... sorry, it's stupid.

New tires in FRONT for me, always. I've only violated this rule once -- with my old car, which had staggered wheel sizes for its winter wheels and didn't permit tire rotation.

 

[lugNutz]

I can see there is some lack of physics knowledge in this forum.....

 

[The Critic]

Easy solution - go buy two more el-cheapo Generals and ask the manager to give you some trade-in credit on the two remaining old tires.

Problem solved.