New tyres - Fitter has 'Interesting' Theory

un1eash

Nearly all my cars lately have had a staggered setup so no way putting new tyres on the rear every time.

Bl4ckGryph0n

I put new ones on our staggered setup each time they need changing. But to be fair they wear evenly all round actually. So it’s four each time; every 7-10,000 miles’ish

craig1912

The Oponeo link in my post above is the nearest you will probably get to evidence- and whilst not 100% conclusive favours putting new tyres on rear in most situations.

Bl4ckGryph0n

Besides it is just logic as well isn't it. When the rear end breaks and looses traction, and you can't control it with steering, nor with the application of power, it will just pull you and spin you out of control. Granted it may be less relevant these days with more vehicle with all sorts of electronic gadgets to help you maintain traction like traction control, brake assist, side wind assist, and so on...The principle still holds. And naturally that doesn't mean you should drive with a big difference between the axles anyway, but every little bit helps. And many of the modern cars with all those gizmo's are actually even more sensitive to differential in wear between tyres. My Mercedes-AMG 4matic (electronic) really doesn't like it, whilst my Audi Quattro is mechanical and doesn't care about that.

But I appreciate that there are other opinions since the planet is still here

Over by there

Oh noes, I have cross climates on the front and Primacy on the rear....

What with abs, abc, ect, eps, esp, itv, er missed a few probably? People fit cheap ditch finders, run tyres under or over inflated, bald, poor tracking I wonder where it sits in the real world post driver aids or running on a track or hooning.

Bl4ckGryph0n

Some people are perhaps more in tune with their vehicle and enjoy it when it is setup properly.

Mixing all weather tyres with summer tyres Ah well each to their own, please don't dent my door when next to me in a car park

car-man

In my 49 years of working on all sorts of motor vehicles, I've always fitted the best tyres to the driving wheels. It has never been an issue with any vehicle I've ever fitted tyres to.
Yes, the front braking wheels are the most active...your car brakes 70% to the front wheels and most braking systems are the diagonal link system, left front and right rear are linked as are left rear and right front.

Regarding a garage not wanting to swap tyres around, the most likely reason is that most times you do this for a customer you get them back complaining of a wobble on the steering and you have to either re-balance the wheels or swap them back...not worth the aggro.
I've looked after several fleet vehicles over the years (more than 60 vehicles each) and have found they would not sanction new tyres until they reach 2mm...not sure if that still applies, but it did when I was involved.

Over by there

I appreciate the sentiment. The everyday cars get what's given to them. They sit in traffic or plod along the m way with not much to do. But I do wonder how many could tell the difference. I think that if someone is in a mess on the road then they have already made the mistake.

Edit.

Shall try not to dent it..

Over by there

Sort of. We had to push for it around that. We did big distances. Biggest issues were the near side wearing on the edge. Comon thing on the vans (over 3.5t) and often replaced whilst the main tyre would be in well in. I understood it was roundabouts and the way van suspension linkages had to work to allow the wheel to turn with the weight of the vehicle coming on that side. Therefore we often had mixed brands and depths on the fronts.

IronGiant

The rear wheels on a front wheel drive car have no traction.  I do believe some people are confusing grip and traction.


Traction is only available to a driving wheel.

The last rear wheel drive car I have had was a 1980 BMW 728i

like this one:

                                                                                                                                               

It would chuck it's arse out while driving round a roundabout...

Since then we've been FWD and have never wondered what the back end was doing.

But we'd never let the back end get on the limit either