What axle to put new tyres on....

flat · Mar 23, 2017

got 2 new tyres for me 90, as they were all cracked and pants.

Other 2 are fine, about 1/5th worn and only a few years old.

What axle shall I put the 2 x brand spankers on? Front or rear? Or does it not matter?

Ta

Ed

blue beasty · Mar 23, 2017

Doesn't make any difference mechanically but I'd always put a tyre least likely to fail on the front personally, not that you'd want to drive with any likely to of course.

flat · Mar 23, 2017

blue beasty said:
Doesn't make any difference mechanically but I'd always put a tyre least likely to fail on the front personally, not that you'd want to drive with any likely to of course.

Cheers matey, will slap the new ones on the front and the older ones on the back, I don't load it up much anyway so that should be okay

cooltide · Mar 23, 2017

Front. They'll wear quicker and catch up with the back ones

BlackDogZulu · Apr 8, 2017

Standard advice (for normal cars) is to put the best tyres on the rear. The thinking is that it's better to have the car understeer in an emergency than oversteer. Worse tyres on the rear will encourage the car to be tail-happy. Not sure if that applies to a 4x4, though.
I find this counter-intuitive. My first thought would be to put the best on the front, because that is where you want the least chance of a puncture or blow-out, but apparently I am wrong.
http://kumhotyre.co.uk/kumho-news/should-you-fit-new-tyres-to-the-front-or-rear/ and many others,

Disco1BFG · Apr 8, 2017

blue beasty said:
Doesn't make any difference mechanically but I'd always put a tyre least likely to fail on the front personally, not that you'd want to drive with any likely to of course.

Nailed. front wheel punctures are not funny - and even less so in a two tonne brick. Years ago 13 Meters of the central reservation on the M1 found that out to its cost ( and my insurance companies too. )

BlackDogZulu said:
Standard advice (for normal cars) is to put the best tyres on the rear. The thinking is that it's better to have the car understeer in an emergency than oversteer. Worse tyres on the rear will encourage the car to be tail-happy. Not sure if that applies to a 4x4, though.
I find this counter-intuitive. My first thought would be to put the best on the front, because that is where you want the least chance of a puncture or blow-out, but apparently I am wrong.
http://kumhotyre.co.uk/kumho-news/should-you-fit-new-tyres-to-the-front-or-rear/ and many others,

Assuming conventional 4x4 (I.E. excluding FL and similar ) - IMHO, it doesn't. One good point the article does make, is that you should keep an eye on the age of the tyres, as much as the tread depth. I'd rather have nearly worn out young tyres, than old tyres with lots of tread on.

(edited to add

Cut and pasted from the linked article:-
Driving over debris with the front tyres is just as likely to cause a puncture in the front tyre as it is in the rear. In fact, the extra tread depth of a new tyre would usually mean the tyre is less likely to suffer a puncture due to the debris needing to penetrate further through the tyre before puncturing the airtight inner liner.

So, what the Kumho "expert" is saying is:-

new tyre = puncture less likely given extra tread depth.

I know for a fact that a front wheel puncture is something I really do want to be as "less likely" as possible.

BlackDogZulu · Apr 8, 2017

Disco1BFG said:
I know for a fact that a front wheel puncture is something I really do want to be as "less likely" as possible.

Well, I would agree. However, I had this debate on another forum, and a lot of people say a rear blowout is worse. In my view, after a puncture/blowout, you need to be slowing down and steering above all else, and it is the front wheels that do the majority of this. I've never had a blowout, but I once drove a Mini (a proper one) about 200 miles with 5 psi in the left rear tyre and didn't notice until I was unloading at the end. I can only see a front blowout as catastrophic in comparison. But most on the other forum seemed to disagree.

flat · Apr 8, 2017

i had a front blowout in a mercedes sprinter, it was ****ing scary. Never had a rear blowout but have had slow deflates.
New ones have gone on the front, i think i would like to be able to steer safely tbh

cooltide · Apr 9, 2017

BlackDogZulu said:
Well, I would agree. However, I had this debate on another forum, and a lot of people say a rear blowout is worse. In my view, after a puncture/blowout, you need to be slowing down and steering above all else, and it is the front wheels that do the majority of this. I've never had a blowout, but I once drove a Mini (a proper one) about 200 miles with 5 psi in the left rear tyre and didn't notice until I was unloading at the end. I can only see a front blowout as catastrophic in comparison. But most on the other forum seemed to disagree.

A rear blowout on a motorway often ends with a visit to the centre reserve àrse first and a front can do the same forwards. I'd say you need quicker reactions to control a rear blowout. In a lorry there's not much you can do at speed. The steering assistance isn't enough to turn the wheel with a front blowout. You are pretty much a passenger.
I'd still put the most tread on the front in most cars as they take a bigger load with a front engine, and wear from steering effort.
The exception being powerful rwd cars. Some can eat a set of rears in 6000 miles.
Also worth taking into account that most road cars are biased towards understeer, land rovers included. So in wet conditions, good tread on the front helps in this respect too.

Disco1BFG · Apr 9, 2017

BlackDogZulu said:
But most on the other forum seemed to disagree.

Well, IMHO, they haven't experienced a front tyre going pop then.

I have, in an RRC, which was nearly new, doing 60 in the middle lane with a Police RRC a little way behind me. Front NS tyre went, vehicle not controllable. = BANG into reservation.

It is not an experience I wish to have a second time.

Disco1BFG · Apr 9, 2017

BlackDogZulu said:
I can only see a front blowout as catastrophic in comparison

I agree fully with this - we had a rear puncture maybe 12 months ago - it didn't "blow" but it went down quite quickly - on a fast A road - some noise from the trashed carcass of the tyre - but just pulled over and changed it.
For once it wasn't raining

norseman · Apr 10, 2017

Disco1BFG said:
you should keep an eye on the age of the tyres, as much as the tread depth. I'd rather have nearly worn out young tyres, than old tyres with lots of tread on.

Too true, age is something that seems to escape many owners. I checked the age of the really nice looking (good tread & no sidewall cracks) set of Michelins on my RRC after four years of ownership & was shocked to find that they were over 20 years old I can just imagine the attitude of my insurers in the event of a blameworthy accident - needlessly to say I changed them PDQ.

What axle to put new tyres on....

flat

Well-Known Member

blue beasty

Leaks an prone to bits dropping off

flat

Well-Known Member

cooltide

sheep fancier

BlackDogZulu

Active Member

Disco1BFG

Well-Known Member

BlackDogZulu

Active Member

flat

Well-Known Member

cooltide

sheep fancier

Disco1BFG

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Disco1BFG

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norseman

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