Unless it is rear wheel drive
data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Sorry I couldn't resist data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Well you're wrong. The recommendation is always to have the new tyres on the rear end. Search Google for thousands of explanations why.
...usually written by petrolheads who like to push their cars to the limit?
When we put winter tyres on one of our cars we only put them on the front, and despite having far better grip than the back, especially in the snow, it never spun off once, or showed any signs of losing "it" despite it apparently being sacrilege to do so.
How does that work exactly with a staggered setup? My rears need changing I change them, fronts, I change them.
I wouldn't worry about it.The theory is that if you put new tyres on the front and they grip better than the back ones the rear end might skip out.Getting on thin ice here, so it may be more relevant for rear wheel drive cars, but for FWD I can't see it being a problem unless you drive a performance car and drive it aggressively.
The theory (and practise) is that you put the best tyres on the non-driven wheels (avoiding the font/rear element). The reason for that is that you can have more control over the driven wheels than the non driven wheels. Therefore under extreme circumstances (note this has nothing to do with driving aggressively) you can manage the situation.
How many people drive to the limits of the tyres (and car)? I expect the ones that meet the scenery are one example of passing them but also think that they would pass the limits even if there were new run in tyres all around.
Interestingly the fleet where I worked had the tyres changed singly unless it was the twin off side or near side rears on a van (they need to be the same depth). The near side front outside edge on many large vans wear a lot quicker than the off side, and often different make and depth but no crashes.
My practical experience is that a failure of a rear tyre is much more serious and difficult to control than that of a front. Having seen a young lady spin through 180 degrees on a busy dual carriageway when her rear tyre deflated quite quickly - and also had a similar rapid deflation but fortunately not the spin, I would never want anything even remotely dubious on the back end of the car.
My current daily is a 240BHP BMW Z4, so probably on the cusp of what you would consider to be a performance car. I recently replaced the rear tyres with a different brand and at typical road speeds there's no noticeable difference in the handling. What does make a huge difference however is tyre pressure. Dropping about 5 PSI all the way around has reduced tramlining and bump steer dramatically.
Having had a rear wheel come off while driving through the Welsh Mountains, I can assure you that having full grip at the front is far more desirable data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Unless it’s rear wheel driven and steered data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7