bought two new tires for my front-wheel drive car....?

Question

Went to a place that said it was their policy to only put new tires on the rear of the car for safety reasons. But it is a front-wheel drive car. They refused to even sell me the tires if I didn't agree to have them placed on the back. This totally doesn't make sense to me, or any of my mechanic family....does anyone have any insight?

Answer 1

We need to have a page of permanent answers to common questions because this one must come up 3-4 times a week. It still amazes me how many people with no knowledge on it anser and answer incorrectly!

Why do you go to a tire shop? Is it just to buy tires or because the people there should be experts in the product they are dealing with and can provide you with the best advice? I hope its the latter.

In this case, the tire shop was ABSOLUTELY, 100% CORRECT. This is also the policy of the tire shop I work at and any other reputable tire shop that has even the slightest clue what is is doing. It is also the policy of every major tire manufacturer and of the tire industry organization the RMA (Rubber Manufacturers Association).

Why?

Bridgestone, Michelin, the RMA, etc, etc..., didn't just suddenly make up this policy as a means of causing you grief. If they, and your local tire professionals feel this strongly about the issue there is a reason for it, don't you think? They wouldn't just toss a sure sale for arcane reasons now would they?

In the old days people thought you put new tires on the front of a front-wheel-drive car for traction. Problem is, they weren't really thinking traction or more accurately "control" but rather acceleration. For accelerating from a stop in slippery conditions yes, you will accelerate more quickly with newer tires on the front. But acceleration isn't a safety issue. Control is.

Let me try and explain.

While the front tires provide acceration, the rear tires provide stability and control. A loss of traction (control) at the front wheels is usually benign and easy for the average driver to control. The technical term is understeer, or, if your a NASCAR fan, "push". All cars are designed to understeer under normal conditions because it is easy for the average driver to control understeer. It usually comes on slowly with lots of warning and to stop it just do less of whatever you are doing - if your foot is on the gas, let up. If your foot is on the brake, ease up. If you have a lot of steering input, ease up, etc...

A loss of traction or control at the rear axle is called oversteer ("loose" in NASCAR speak) - the car wants to swap ends or spin. Oversteer is often very sudden and almost impossible in many cases for even an experienced race car driver to control. In short, if your rear tires lose traction then your chances of having a serious accident are significantly greater than if the front tires lose traction.

Since it is rather difficult to describe this and have it make sense it might be more useful for you to visit this web site;

http://www.michelinman.com/care/tip6.html

Down at the bottom of the page you will see that the good folks at Michelin have gone to the trouble of producing a video that shows what I just vainly tried to describe. Note in particular where they show 2 identical cars running on the same road at the same time. Watch how the one that has half worn tires on the front and new tires on the rear rounds the corner safe and secure while the one with new tires on the front axle spins off into oblivion while travelling at exactly the same speed.

Kinda tells you everything you need to know.

I have tested this myself BTW under controlled conditions and what they show in the video is absolutely correct.

That your tire store would rather lose the business than do the wrong thing is an indication this is the kind of place you want to do business with! Do not go to a shop that will just do whatever you want, right or wrong, just to make a buck. Go to the shop where ethics and doing the right thing means more than sales.

Answer 2

Within reason they are right, we have a condition when cornering a car called oversteer and understeer, understeer is when although the front wheels are turned to make the corner the car wants to keep going straight ahead this is a 'stable condition' and is easily corrected by taking your foot of the accelerator which to most drivers is a natural response anyway and the car will then follow the direction in which the front wheels are pointing, oversteer is an 'unstable condition' that is when the rear wheels want to slide out of line and is corrected by turning into the skid however if you have gone into the corner to hard and your back end starts to slide then to correct you turn into the skid you could be turning into the oncoming lane of traffic, not really were you want to be, so if you just let the back slide you will probably do a 360deg spin and if you happen to be driving a SUV then it will probably roll as well, if you watch Worlds wildest Police videos the police always hit the villain in the rear quarter to induce on oversteer condition so that the driver loses control. Most manufactures build in understeer although with rear engined cars oversteer is a natural condition hence they are more likely to spin out of control and/or roll over. actually it pays to have good Tyre's all round, but for safety ----------- would you have the best Tyre's at the front or rear?

Answer 3

Front wheel drive new tires on front, braking, cornering, traction. Rear wheel drive, new tires on the rear. its common sense, something there's very little of on this subject. Good tires cannot fix a bad driver.

Answer 4

New tires on the front will help foward traction, new tires on the back will keep your car on the road, with new tires on the front and old on the back will cause the back to kick out on slippery roads and you will have very little control so do your self a favor and others that you share the roads with and get four tires, rotate them when it;s called for. In the long run it'll end up costing the same.

Answer 5

This is a common policy around the country due to legal reasons, so, DON'T take your car to the tire shop, rather, take the wheels off your car and take them in using someone elses vehicle, have new ones mounted and balanced and go back and put them on yourself. Go to a Costco, if you can.

Answer 6

go to other tires dealer.

doesn't make sense to me neither.

unless,You car is sport,two seat.That a different story,the front tires don't have same diameter or size,and probably they don't have it, only the rear size and they wanted to sale it any way.

Answer 7

New tires should go on the front. Old front tires, if still good, should be rotated to the back.

Answer 8

in a society where we see lawyers advertising for class action and medical malpractice suits on tv, a day i never hoped to see, im not suprised. all they are doing is protecting themselves from lawsuits. i dont agree with this policy, but i understand why they do it.

Answer 9

That is assinine, I'd say find a different tire place!

Answer 10

outrageous! go to another tire place.you're right ,they're wrong.