Tire Rotation Question

The car is my FWD daily driver. Should the 'better' tires be on the rear or front?

Thanks for your help,
Harold

Front.

Front - FWD cars work the fronts much harder than the rears.

google it linky

The answer is ALWAYS the rear, for over 50 years now that I know of.

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.

Everything is based on not losing control of the rear and going into a spin. Tires, brake bias, etc...

Sorry, had to 🤣

Now that I agree with.

Although the only situation that is being addressed in the link is hydroplaning. There are a myriad of other situations that may favor the better tires on the front.

But I do believe that the driver's abilities (or lack thereof) would be far more important than which end of the vehicle had more tread.

Again, just my personal experience.

Front, but I'm in Pittsburgh where it snows. Good tires on the back won't do diddly.

It depends on the car. In the winter here having good tires on the rear helps the car from sliding around. But if the front tires are too crappy you can't get any traction. Under normal good weather driving the good tires are usually better on the front.

Well, not to be argumentative, but I can tell you from experience: only way to kick the tail out on my Breeze was a handbrake turn on icy roads.
When its snow tires were worn, the fronts would spin or skid or understeer.
I tried its summer tires on an icy road once, and it was looser at the front.

I also have always read worst tires up front because if you lose one up front you can somewhat counter the negative effects with steering.

on "the bus" [caravan] i put the studded snow tires on the front and a pair of really aggressive all seasons on the rear.
works well for all the more driving i do anymore.
plus 1947 chrysler wheel covers.

Best to drive tires for me. You can't have an accident if you can't move because the junk tires are on the drive axle.

But, you can't get to work either.

I have indeed experienced the rear sliding out of control on wet pavement, and that was with good, nearly new tires all around. Its really hard to keep it from looping around, and it will want to loop vert fast.

I have always put new tires on the front, but these days, we usually buy all 4 at a time.

I always put best on front.
I had this conversation with my tire shop.

He said best should be on REAR for stability, especially in rain and you are less likely to loose control in a corner if going too fast.
I said all my steering and most of my braking is on the front. Basically everything that controls the car is up front..
I asked him what am I more likely to have happen when I leave the parking lot. A sudden rain storm or a corner i didn't see, or an idiot pull out in front of me, run a red light, or do something stupid I have to avoid.

He put the good ones up front as I asked but told me he is supposed to go by industry standards for liability reasons.

The problem with the good tires on the rear is it is not taking into account the real world we live in.


Here in the real world I have to avoid idiots far more than rain or taking a corner too fast.

Yet understeer has been purposely designed into cars in the name of safety for decades.

I agree with best tires on the rear, oversteer is looking for trouble...especially in slippery conditions.
My 2 cents, Joe

This is all such a crock if crap. Nobody is running 2 junk tires and 2 good tires. Since all 4 should be serviceable. If it's front wheel drive I prefer the the deeper tread on the front for traction in poor weather. Same with rear wheel drive. I would place them on the rear for traction. Now if you dont drive in snow. It probably doesn't matter either way.
Doug

We get snow and ice on the roads here almost every year, my wife's 1996 Camry and my 2006 Ram 35004x4 have two sets of wheels and tires, one for winter (November 1st to April 1st usually, (depending on the state allowing them sooner or longer based on local conditions) and the other sets for the rest of the year
BTW DVW, her Camry has ended up with two different sizes and brand winter tires on it several years due to them wearing differently and me being cheap on buying used studded snow tires for the rear That car is only driven locally now in the winter due to having over 250,000 miles on it now

Again, the crap tires keep the vehicle from moving. If it doesn't move it can't have an accident.

Looking back at my history of accidents in slippery conditions, all 3 were caused by understeer.

Shouldn't you have put the "better traction" studded snow tires on the rear?

Not when it is front wheel drive.

There seems to me to be some "double talk" with the better tires on a front wheel drive (FWD) being installed on the rear. From what I read in some internet posts the danger of more worn tires on the rear of a FWD car is about loss of traction from side impact or side load causing a spin. How many times does this happen as compared to the need for better braking or the potential for aquaplaning?



When changing the tires on a front-wheel drive car, the better and new tires should go to the back, not to the front. This is because worse tires in the rear are associated with the risk of slipping and dangerous side impacts. Worse front tires significantly increase the braking distance. With tires that vary greatly in terms of wear and tear, the risk of accidents increases2. The better tires mounted on the front axle provide shorter braking distances and greater aquaplaning protection.

I put four full on snow tires on dedicate winter wheels on every vehicle we drive during the winter months. I check the tread depths and tire rotation arrows and put the tires with the most tread depth on the primary drive axles. FWD vehicles get the more tread depth tire on the front, RWD vehicles get more tread depth tires on the rear. AWD vehicles get more tread depth tires on the primary drive axle in our case our AWD is 60 rear/ 40 front so again on the rear. For some dumb reason I always thought of the rear tire/wheels on a FWD vehicle as "trailer" wheels with brakes guess the "experts" say I've been wrong thinking this.

Yup...I used to own an '83 2.2 Charger FWD. Good tires at each corner. Driving home in January, at 1:30am on I-75 (major freeway) ...
I was only driving about 30-35mph going north (speed limit is 70)... snow storm. Without warning I hit black ice, and the car just spun out
did a 360, and I was facing SOUTH... two feet next to the retaining wall! Luckily..it was late and no traffic was behind me.
As I mentioned, all tires were good shape...so tires didn't make a bit of difference in that particular situation.