Where to put my tyres with most tread, front or back

M

m44rrt

Member
I am putting my summer wheels back on
I have 4mm on one pair and 6mm on another pair
Where should the deepest tread go, front or back?
Does it matter?
 
Always the back :thumbsup: - even on FWD cars - but more so with RWD.

Although thats presuming yor wheels are not staggered!
 
Staggered - Good point!
No they are the same 8J all round
I have thought about 12mm or 15mm spacers for the back though
 
Always rear wheels with new tyres (FWD/4WD/RWD). But if the wheels on your zed are 108, then you cannot do it.
 
This is something iv heard before but never understood, can someone explain to me why newer tyres should go on the back? not that it matters to me now with the staggered setup but for front wheel drive i cant get it to make sense.
I mean about 80% of the braking force comes from the front, all of the steering comes from the front and on FWD all of the drive too, for me i think the newest tyres should go on the front, some one please explain, and if the answer is something to do with under/over steer then im not buying into it. :?
 
Robb said:
This is something iv heard before but never understood, can someone explain to me why newer tyres should go on the back? not that it matters to me now with the staggered setup but for front wheel drive i cant get it to make sense.
I mean about 80% of the braking force comes from the front, all of the steering comes from the front and on FWD all of the drive too, for me i think the newest tyres should go on the front, some one please explain, and if the answer is something to do with under/over steer then im not buying into it. :?
Click to expand...

As far as i understand it it is mainly to do with understeer/ oversteer - grippy rear in the wet will favour understeer more then oversteer - understeer being easier to control.

On a fwd car which are prone to understeer anyway then this isnt a major problem - but then the front will tend to wear out quicker - so the driver will have adapted to having less grippy fronts - so introducing new grippy front tyres will change the driving characteristics.

On rwd cars where the traction is important to get you out of sticky situations you certainly want the most grip on the rears.

No idea what happends on AWD though :lol:

And then there is this from the Michelin site:

http://www.michelin.co.uk/michelinuk/en/car-van-4x4/less-worn-tyres-rear/20070314172074.html
 
in most cars the weight of the engine - especially under braking - would surely make the front end more grippy? therefore also better to have better tread at the rear?
 
You can correct the front wheels by steering, but you cannot correct the rear wheels directly if they lose traction. So better tyres (with more grip in the wet due to more tread) should be fitted on rear wheels.
 
Robb said:
This is something iv heard before but never understood, can someone explain to me why newer tyres should go on the back? not that it matters to me now with the staggered setup but for front wheel drive i cant get it to make sense.
I mean about 80% of the braking force comes from the front, all of the steering comes from the front and on FWD all of the drive too, for me i think the newest tyres should go on the front, some one please explain, and if the answer is something to do with under/over steer then im not buying into it. :?
Click to expand...

This came up on PH and I was in a minority for thinking FWD = best on the front. I understand all the understeer/oversteer/stability arguments and I quite see that on a track. But if the purpose of tread is to disperse water and enhance wet grip, the fronts are doing all the work, and when careless kid runs out I'd want max braking ability on the front, where the load is.

Still, until Z4s are FWD......
 
Yes, quite see that, very dramatic - are they FWD cars?

Ok, not saying that's wrong but if most of your braking is through the front tyres.....http://www.rospa.com/RoadSafety/AdviceAndInformation/VehicleSafety/TyreSafety/tread-depth.aspx
 
I think I would be inclined to say front too:

As I see it, if I lose traction on the rear wheels I can counter-steer and feather the throttle etc to control it... Lose traction on the front wheels and it's adios road, bonjour field/hedge/ditch/tree

saying that, Im no authority... Just makes more sense to me!
 
Thanks all for your views
WLH thanks for the video finds
I am going with Vicki Butler Henderson in the second video and putting my greater tread on the back.
I will be replacing my 4mm tyres as soon as they get below 3.5 given the ROSPA stopping charts
 
I would of liked to have seen a straight back to back test by VBH with those two cars comparing stopping distance, yes putting them on the rear might stop you spinning wildly out of control at 30mph on a skid pan :| but if something pulls out of a side street infront of me one rainy day i would be happy my best tyres are at the front.

Iv just got 4 new ones so dont matter to me anyway.
 
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