Passat TDi 170 - extra load v. standard load tyres

[rjb2001]

PS anyone picked up that current advice is that you should always put your newest tyres on the back wheels?

Yep, if you buy your tyres at Costco, they only ever fit them to the rear and they've been doing that for that for at least the last 3 years.

[Quatrelle]

PS anyone picked up that current advice is that you should always put your newest tyres on the back wheels?

This has been the advice from the experts for at least a couple of years now. Perhaps if you Google it you'll get the reason(s).

I'm not an expert, so on that basis I have always put the best tyres on the front, my reasoning being that up to a point you can collect a rear-wheel slide, if the front goes you've got no chance. And of course the fronts do all the work.

I'd be grateful if someone would come up with the thoughts behind it - I've forgotten.

[john@johnsthrel]

Hi Quatrelle

My late father was a heavy goods mechanic and always, but always, advised me to have my best tyres on the front as they do all the steering and most of the braking. 40 years of advice is hard to shake.

I believe there has been a report by Michelin that suggests that if you have your best tyres on the front and suffer a rear failure, you're likely to end up in a spin. I think this presupposes that the driver is either unable or does not have the skill to deal with this.

Is this a result of liability concerns? Cynically, is it because front tyres wear faster than rear ones?

John

[james_tiger_woo]

Anyone picked up that current advice is that you should always put your newest tyres on the back wheels?

Odd - I've ALWAYS put the newest on the front as they're the wheels that do the driving/steering, etc.

If I get new tyres for the rear and 5000 miles later I get a front set - I'll have the newest ones put up front and the (now older) ones put to the back.

The fronts will always wear faster and I think it's better to have the best tread up front - especially as it's the front that'll meet the hazard first*

*Unless you're me, in a Bora, having spun backwards into a field at about 50mph....

[angus]

I think the Michelin reasoning is based upon having greater grip at the rear, as the vast majority of drivers have now been brought up on front wheel drive cars that have a built-in tendancy to understeer, so when a driver runs out of grip/ability all he has to do is lift off to retrieve the situation.

Having less grip at the rear will promote a tendancy to oversteer which will be a a pretty much unknown phenomenon to a lot of people (you learned a lot driving Marinas, Cortinas, Escorts etc!) and simply lifting off if the tail goes won`t necessarily get you out of trouble.

[Quatrelle]

John - Unfortunately I'm old enough to have been brought up on rear-wheel drive cars (well before angus's Marinas etc.).

I once had a rear-tyre puncture at over 80mph in a Renault 21, and the only reaction I got in the car was a droning that at first made me think that a bearing had broken in the gearbox. No drama, I pulled onto the hard shoulder and at first looked at the front of the car. It wasn't till I noticed the smell of burning rubber coming from the back ......There was no tendency at all for the car to fishtail.

But they were Michelin tyres!

angus - I think that was the main reason given for putting the best tyres on the rear. And of course lifting off would make things worse if the rear goes.

Did you ever drive a Marina TC

[angus]

[
Did you ever drive a Marina TC[/QUOTE]

My first car!
Brilliant fun! Understeer, oversteer, four-wheel drifts, all in the same corner, taught you more about car control than a track day.

They should be brought back and made compulsory education for the chavs in their Saxos!

[john@johnsthrel]

Hi Quatrelle

I learned to drive in a Ford Anglia in the late 60s. Did a little Formula Ford and various skid control courses in front and rear wheel drive cars.

I'm touching wood as I say this I've never had a violent rear tyre puncture...

I had a Renault 21 Estate some years ago. Although sold in the UK as a Savanna, mine had the French Nevada badges on which caused me a few problems when I came to sell it. A good car though.

Regards

John