New Tires

[paceman]

My wifes front wheel drive van has bad tires in front but the ones in back are still in pretty good shape. I will buy two new tires. I was going to put them on the front but the salesman said they would be better on the back. He said put the back ones up front and the new ones on back. That doesn't make sense to me. Is he correct?

[Hoey]

It seems that the opinion of tire shops, car dealers, etc... has changed from my Dad's era of putting the best rubber up front for control (steering and stopping) to, as you were told, putting the best rubber on the rear axle.

I have asked about this and if I recall correctly, the better rubber on the rear minimizes the risk of drifting, i.e. lost of control due to the rear breaking loose in cornering and stopping. I still put the better rubber up front, but the shops/dealers always want a somewhat of a disclaimer/liability waiver signed.

[Jeremy airjer W]

There are several theories about this.

If you have two good tires and two bad tires the two bad tires should be up front regardless of the drive wheels. The theory is, it is easy to control a front blowout than a rear blow out. This would also apply to winter traction. you will notice the front sliding long before you notice the rear sliding.

As far as wear goes you want the better tread on the front of a front wheel drive and a on the rear of a rear wheel drive.

Your best option is to have all four tires the same. This way there is no issue with traction and you can always have the wear tires in the positions they need to be.

I never bought into the "all four the same" until I drove my Saturn in the winter. It had two different brands of tires with two very different tractions. If I had the better traction tires on the front in the winter I really had to pay attention to what the back of the car was doing as it wanted to come around very easily. If I had the better traction tires on the rear the vehicle was easier to control but it was harder to get going.

[1968]

Sounds like a complete lack of tire rotations?

I know the current method is better tires in back. But I've seen plenty of damage because there was a lack of steering/stopping traction in the front. With that being said, I'll follow the least likely to get sued current method of better on back. With timely rotaions this is a non issue.

Replace them all and try to dump the "good" 2 on the list. Not what you wanted to hear, but I have to share the road with you. And naturally it's all about me..

[Scott K]

Im guessing the ones that are on the rear, are a little choppy, and they just want to get them wearing on the other axle for a while, to correct the wear.

[paceman]

It is a new to us van. Yes it appears that the previous users never rotated their tires. I new the front ones were in bad shape and I did use that as a negotiating point. We will be replacing all 4. I was just surprised when checking around that the shops recommended new ones on back instead of the front. Thanks for the interesting chat guys!