I understand the reasoning behind recommending putting the better tires on the rear in the link. But what about steering and braking? Wouldn't it be better to have the better tread on the pulling (for FWD) and steering end? Besides, the front accounts for about 70% of the braking. In my opinion, it is not that cut and dried. For our part, we mount the better tires on the front. We have never had any vehicle hydroplane on the rear. Has anyone here had one do that?
One thing I will add; on front wheel drive vehicles, a few extra pounds of air pressure can help to minimize their tendency to shoulder off the front tires. We generally add about 4 extra pounds to the front tires on front wheel drive vehicles. It really helps with outer edge wear and we haven't experienced any down sides.
As I understand it, the rationale is you have NO input other than throttle to the rear, you always have steering control in case of lost traction. The tire companies have studied it forever, the recommendation hasn't changed in my lifetime. At this point in life, we just replace all four, when we were younger we never did less than two.
With liability getting out of hand, you may have trouble getting a tire company to mount them on the front.
Best of luck with whatever you decide, I really don't think the difference is all that great.
