Maybe I'm crazy, but...

[SWing'R]

....if I buy a set of tires from a tire shop and I tell them that I want them on the front rims, they should put them on the front!

So, I ordered two SNOW tires for our car cause its traction with the low profile tires sucks ass. Figured I'd have the new SNOW tires put on the front of our FRONT WHEEL DRIVE car.

Tires came in at the shop, sent the wife there this morning to have them put on. She calls me later after having left there and said they put them on the BACK! And gave her some line of shit about a "safety policy" that the "best" tires should always go on the back.

Ahh, front wheel drive, shitty traction, put better tires on the front... makes sense to me.

I called them and told them I was sending the wife back to have them put on the front, they said they WOULD NOT DO IT. I told them you will or you can have the fucking tires back (these two tires were over $300).

They took them back. Unbelievable. Now I know some of you auto shop guys are gonna agree with them, but the problem we have with the car in the snow is not sliding or loss of control, its starting and turning as the front wheels just frickin spin in the snow instead of digging in with anything that resembles traction.

I just can't believe they would lose a $300+ sale instead of simply putting the tires where I wanted them.

FYI, it was Discount Tire in Hilliard.

[Casper]

FYI' date=' it was Discount Tire in Hilliard.[/quote']

I see the problem.

[max power]

Wow, wtf??

[RSVDon]

If their policy is to put the safest tires on the drive wheels, they should have gone on the front! Lol!

Also, I'd rather have snow tires on the front to stop and turn before I'd ever want them on the rear to drive the vehicle. (in the case of rwd)

[Uncle Punk]

The logic to back up the shops decision should be entertaining. You stop with the front, turn with the front on FWD and RWD. When you rotate tires on most cars that have the same size tires front and back you are taking the front more worn tires and placing them on the back. Where I get my tires they do free tire rotations, couldn't you just have gone back and asked them to rotate your tires?

[Casper]

The logic to back up the shops decision should be entertaining. You stop with the front, turn with the front on FWD and RWD. When you rotate tires on most cars that have the same size tires front and back you are taking the front more worn tires and placing them on the back. Where I get my tires they do free tire rotations, couldn't you just have gone back and asked them to rotate your tires?

The people Swingr talked to had to of been complete morons.

[snodgrass23]

The problem, though, is the front will end up getting so much better traction that the car will end up spinning out pretty easily and probably at higher speeds. So, it will go better around the neighborhood at slows speeds, but on off and on ramps and even general interstate driving in general the car will tend to have some nasty snap over-steer.

With tires as different as that, you really should get them on all 4 tires.

[jeremygsxr]

I think you should have told them you were going to mount him in the rear, and it would only cost $250! on that note I have a friend in tire industry, pm me if you have not gotten this taken care of.

[jagr]

One of my friends at work just had the same thing happen to him.

They caved and put them on the front though. Weird.

[SWing'R]

The problem, though, is the front will end up getting so much better traction that the car will end up spinning out pretty easily and probably at higher speeds. So, it will go better around the neighborhood at slows speeds, but on off and on ramps and even general interstate driving in general the car will tend to have some nasty snap over-steer.

With tires as different as that, you really should get them on all 4 tires.

Now that make sense, why couldn't the dumbass at Discount Tire explain it that way instead of being the douche that he was.

End result... no new tires today

[MattKatz]

YOur the customer..they should put them where you want them...There is no liability on tire installation as long as the tire is installed on the rim properly.

Wow...I would have gotten in a serious arguement with these guys.

[LeNko]

im sure if they took them back Discount tire has a policy about it...

im sure to them, traction isnt the MAIN concern, but control is, like snod said

[jporter12]

The problem, though, is the front will end up getting so much better traction that the car will end up spinning out pretty easily and probably at higher speeds. So, it will go better around the neighborhood at slows speeds, but on off and on ramps and even general interstate driving in general the car will tend to have some nasty snap over-steer.

With tires as different as that, you really should get them on all 4 tires.

That makes VERY little sense to me. If this is the situation, someone is outdriving the road conditions. I ALWAYS want the better traction tires on the front of a front wheel drive car. My wife's car is that way.

BTW, I do this stuff for a living, although we're not a tire shop. We do tires, but it's not our primary business.

[AOW]

The problem, though, is the front will end up getting so much better traction that the car will end up spinning out pretty easily and probably at higher speeds. So, it will go better around the neighborhood at slows speeds, but on off and on ramps and even general interstate driving in general the car will tend to have some nasty snap over-steer.With tires as different as that, you really should get them on all 4 tires.

uhhh NO.. That makes ZERO sense at all. Using your logic his car should spin out equally as easily with the snow tires on the rear. On my front wheel drive vehicles I have always installed the studded tires on the front. If you don't have traction at your drive tires then you ain't driving you're just sitting in your driveway kicking up snow!

[ReconRat]

I'm totally confused also... I thought standard practice for front wheel drive vehicles was to buy two, put them on the front drive wheels, and put the best two of the other four tires, on the rear... dunno... (and generally it's the original rear tires, since they don't wear out back there on front wheel drive vehicles.)

[Strictly Street]

Um, Sounds like a way to get you to buy another two tires.

So they all match you understand.

$$$$$

[ReconRat]

apparently it's a lawyer thing...

look at this article, but it still doesn't prove much either way..

Are new tires best in front or back?

my wild guess/opinion: The standard practice is to never put a radial on front, with bias ply on the rear.

A radial mixed with bias must always go on the back wheels.

Therefore, perhaps tire shops can't identify types of tires, and cover their ass by putting all radial tires on the rear to be safer.

Theoretically, if you tried to buy bias ply tires, they would insist on putting them on the front.

Edited February 20, 2010 by ReconRat

[chevysoldier]

Best treads go on the drive axle. You want traction where the power turns the wheels. If you have the best tires on a front wheel drive car, the rear end is not just gonna come around the front on a on ramp, if it does you are going way too fast.

Having 4 tires all be the same tread and tread depth is best but not necessary. You do want to have the relative same tread pattern and tread depth PER axle, meaning front and rear.

I did tires for a major tire company for a little while, and now work with jporter doing auto repair and some tires.

[scottb]

I have a 2003 Monte Carlo. My front tires wear alot fast then the rear tires. I dont have my tread gauge at my house (at my dad's) to give you specs, but it you can visually tell the rear tires had more tread. When this winter started, I had no traction with the "worn" tires on front.

I rotated the worn tires to the rear and moved the more tread having tires to the front. Now I have traction and control. No problems with turns or changing lanes with the less tread tires in the back.

I started with 4 new tires, but the front wore down faster then the rear tires due to front wheel drive, turning and braking.

Currently have Cooper tires on the car now because i could not afford Goodyear. The prior set of tires were Goodyear Triple tread assurance. By far, the best tires I ever had on the car but were kinda pricey.

[chevysoldier]

I have a 2003 Monte Carlo. My front tires wear alot fast then the rear tires. I dont have my tread gauge at my house (at my dad's) to give you specs, but it you can visually tell the rear tires had more tread. When this winter started, I had no traction with the "worn" tires on front.

I rotated the worn tires to the rear and moved the more tread having tires to the front. Now I have traction and control. No problems with turns or changing lanes with the less tread tires in the back.

I started with 4 new tires, but the front wore down faster then the rear tires due to front wheel drive, turning and braking.

Currently have Cooper tires on the car now because i could not afford Goodyear. The prior set of tires were Goodyear Triple tread assurance. By far, the best tires I ever had on the car but were kinda pricey.

That why you are supposed to rotate them every 6k miles, or about every other 3k oil change. This way they all will wear more evenly.

[scottb]

Correct on the rotating. I use Mobil 1 oil and change the oil every 5000 miles.I also rotate the tires. I am out of sync now with the rotating and the oil change this winter.

Now if i knew why my 2002 Durango has had 2 caliper lock ups, once on the right front and once on the left front. Locking up to the point of smoke out of the front wheel well. After the truck sits, I can raise the front tire and it will spin free. After each event, I flush the brake fluid, verify caliper piston retracts, clean/anti-seize the caliper slides. Dodge has 88K on it. I suspect the brake hoses are collapsing internally? Right front locked up Thursday night. Truck sat for 30 minutes before I could inspect it. No problems today. Will flush brake fluid this weekend.

[jporter12]

Correct on the rotating. I use Mobil 1 oil and change the oil every 5000 miles.I also rotate the tires. I am out of sync now with the rotating and the oil change this winter.

Now if i knew why my 2002 Durango has had 2 caliper lock ups, once on the right front and once on the left front. Locking up to the point of smoke out of the front wheel well. After the truck sits, I can raise the front tire and it will spin free. After each event, I flush the brake fluid, verify caliper piston retracts, clean/anti-seize the caliper slides. Dodge has 88K on it. I suspect the brake hoses are collapsing internally? Right front locked up Thursday night. Truck sat for 30 minutes before I could inspect it. No problems today. Will flush brake fluid this weekend.

In such a case, we usually do it all. Calipers and hoses. The pads are probably less than ideal now, also if they got THAT hot, not to mention the rotors might be warped. The only other thing could be a rare ABS problem, if your's has 4 wheel ABS.

[jporter12]

I have a 2003 Monte Carlo. My front tires wear alot fast then the rear tires. I dont have my tread gauge at my house (at my dad's) to give you specs, but it you can visually tell the rear tires had more tread. When this winter started, I had no traction with the "worn" tires on front.

I rotated the worn tires to the rear and moved the more tread having tires to the front. Now I have traction and control. No problems with turns or changing lanes with the less tread tires in the back.

I started with 4 new tires, but the front wore down faster then the rear tires due to front wheel drive, turning and braking.

Currently have Cooper tires on the car now because i could not afford Goodyear. The prior set of tires were Goodyear Triple tread assurance. By far, the best tires I ever had on the car but were kinda pricey.

Triple Tread's FTW! I have them on my car, all the way around, and on the front of the wife's car. Unfortunately, they quit making them in the sizes that I need! I'm going to have get something else, or a different size that will be close enough to the same diameter.

[chevysoldier]

Triple Tread's FTW! I have them on my car, all the way around, and on the front of the wife's car. Unfortunately, they quit making them in the sizes that I need! I'm going to have get something else, or a different size that will be close enough to the same diameter.

Just install a lift kit.

[jporter12]

Just install a lift kit.

You're dumb. I need the wheel speeds to be the same (ABS on the Malibu).

Besides, it's not a 4 cylinder, 2 wheel driver Ranger.... (Inside joke....)