switching tires

By kombolcha
in The Neobahn

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Grand Master

kombolcha

Posted
Posted

my car's got just over 14K miles now and i noticed the front tires are pretty much bald, they still have grip, but a significant difference compared to the rear tires.

i was just about to buy brand new tires, but i thought what if i just switch the rear tires to the front and the front tires to the rear, maybe for another 5,000 miles, or just before winter?

but i'm not sure how that'll affect my car.

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Nose Nuggets

Posted
Posted

thats what rotating your tires is. switching the fronts with the rears.

because you have a FWD car, the fronts will natually wear faster, there getting 100% of yur power to the road, and there doing the turning (well, not all of it, but the majority of it) AND the engine is in the front, which adds substantial weight.

to answer your question;

it depends

can you take a pic of the tred for us to see?

if they are as bald as you claim, i would sugest getting a new set of 4, and being more concious about the ability to rotate next time round. if there is sufficent tred then i would rotate them to the rear. if you have snow and ice where ever you live i woudl suggest getting a new set of 4 before winter.

i dont usualy recomend 2 new tires, and 2 scrubbed tires. unless the scrubbs have 80% of there tred still available.

Grand Master

kombolcha

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ya, i'd never buy two new tires..thats just.. i dunno i couldnt do that..

i'm at school right now, and i've already switched the tires.. i didn't know "rotating tires" was just that.

by the time i get home it'll be too dark, but there is a good amount of tread on it and the weather here is "southern california" (sunny until late november)

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Nose Nuggets

Posted
Posted

like i said, if there is 80% tred on the rears, then buying 2 new tires for the front wont do anything bad. the car cant tell :)

you use the world bald, so im scepticle if the fronts would do any good on the rear.

just because there not your drive wheels, dosent meen they just get draged along and dont need any tred. they do roughly 40% of your turning.

Apprentice

JohnnyS

Posted
Posted (edited)

thanks... :D

just an offtopic: here (in brazil) a car like that costs something like (minimum) R$80K (US$1 = R$2,5), and our minimum salary is R$280 (US$115)... making impossible to a normal human have a nice car like this one :no: :x

Edited by JohnnyS
Grand Master

kombolcha

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thanks...  :D

just an offtopic: here (in brazil) a car like that costs something like (minimum) R$80K (US$1 = R$2,5), and our minimum salary is R$280 (US$115)...  making impossible to a normal human have a nice car like this one  :no: :x

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i know where you're coming from.. if i lived in ethiopia, ($1 US = 9Birr) owning a 20 year old Corolla is HUGE!

i got the car for $18k including tax, license, and fees..

like i said, if there is 80% tred on the rears, then buying 2 new tires for the front wont do anything bad. the car cant tell

you use the world bald, so im scepticle if the fronts would do any good on the rear.

just because there not your drive wheels, dosent meen they just get draged along and dont need any tred. they do roughly 40% of your turning.

i was saying compared to the rear.. but the weather conditions here are good, so i have no worries.. buying two new tires.. i see it as a waste of money now that i think about it.. when i do get 4 new tires i'm going to buy better tires than the factory tires my car is wearing now.

Grand Master

kombolcha

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lol.. i wouldn't really say i paid for them.. it was either those tires or pay $2,000 extra for their 17" alloys.. ya, ok.. for that much i can get some sick 18" rims with better tires.

i'll just ware these out.. i didn't know that rotating tires litterally meant rotating the back to the front and front to back.. i thought they rotated them in circles. :laugh:

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Nose Nuggets

Posted
Posted
lol.. i wouldn't really say i paid for them.. it was either those tires or pay $2,000 extra for their 17" alloys.. ya, ok.. for that much i can get some sick 18" rims with better tires.

i'll just ware these out.. i didn't know that rotating tires litterally meant rotating the back to the front and front to back.. i thought they rotated them in circles. :laugh:

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your the one that rotates them in circles, when you drive it.

but yeah. so next time you get yer oil changed, and they want to charge you $50 to get yer "tires rotated" you can tell em to shove it

or you can say, no, how about you move em about for me for free.

Grand Master

kombolcha

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ya, thats how this came about, the guy wanted to charge me $59.99 for what they call and "intermediate" service.. and i said no thanks i'll do it myself..

this is my 3rd oil change and it was supposed to be paid for, but i lied and said it was free. lol i'm gonna keep doing that for as long as i can.

Grand Master

kombolcha

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again, i was comparing the front tires to the rear, when you look at both of them, there is a huge difference, which is why i said bald.

but if you were just shown the front tires, they still have good tread on them. the guy at the dealership said these tires go farther than 50,000 miles, which i think is complete bull****. maybe 30,000

so no i dont' floor my car a lot (waste of gas) and i don't take turns too fast.. thats almost impossible in LA.. there are pedestrians everywhere. thank you.

Enthusiast

wrench

Posted
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Your tires should last at least 40000 miles if you drive the car normally. If the tires are wearing faster than that, your wheel alignment might be out. You need to measure the tread depth and compare it to the original tread depth to really know how fast they are wearing. They certainly shouldn't be half worn out yet. Oh, and rotate your tires regularly to equalize wear.

Grand Master

kombolcha

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in the day time i'll take note of the exact tire model so i'll know what the rating is, i'm going to guess 30,000 mile tires.. i doubt car companies would spend more money on better tires, unless i bought the V6 or SER model.. :/

i'll find out tomorrow and i'll take pics of the tread.

Grand Master

Mystical112

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u should rotate them that will evenly wear ur tires... but i think even if u leave it for a bit then just buy a new set of 4 u should b alright... but u might want to switch ur back to front and vice versa...

on mine the back are going cause my struts needed replacing so my back tires kinda weared unevenly but summer is almost over so ill get a new set of 4 next summer...

Mentor

Nose Nuggets

Posted
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when you get new tyres you should put the new ones on the back and the old back ones on the front.

I got about 20,000 miles out of a front set of my tyres, only a clio 1.2L.

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you should have the tires with more tred on your driving wheels.

so if you have a front wheel drive car, you should have your meat on the front. and vise versa for a rear wheel drive car.

Mentor

tkyoshi

Posted
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you should have the tires with more tred on your driving wheels.

so if you have a front wheel drive car, you should have your meat on the front. and vise versa for a rear wheel drive car.

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Acutally Sam is right for FWD Vehicles.

..........

However due to the front tires' responsibility for transmitting acceleration, steering and most of the braking forces on front-wheel-drive vehicles, it's normal for front tires to wear faster than rear tires. If the tires aren't rotated on a regular basis, it's also common for pairs of tires to wear out rather than sets. And if the tires aren't rotated at all, it's likely that the rear tires will still have about 1/2 of their original tread depth when the front tires are completely worn out.

Intuition suggests that since the front tires wore out first and because there is still about half-tread remaining on the rear tires, the new tires should be installed on the front axle. This will provide more traction, and by the time the front tires have worn out for the second time, the rear tires will be worn out too. However in this case, intuition isn't right...and following it can be downright dangerous.

When tires are replaced in pairs in situations like these, the new tires should always be installed on the rear axle and the worn tires moved to the front. The reason is because new tires on the rear axle help the driver more easily maintain control on wet roads because new, deeper treaded tires are more capable of resisting hydroplaning.

Hydroplaning occurs when the tire cannot process enough water through its tread design to maintain effective contact with the road. In moderate to heavy rain, water can pool up in road ruts, depressions and pockets adjacent to pavement expansion joints. At higher speeds, the standing water often found in these pools challenge a tire's ability to resist hydroplaning.

.........

If the rear tires have more tread depth than the front tires, the front tires will begin to hydroplane and lose traction on wet roads before the rears. This will cause the vehicle to begin to understeer (the vehicle wants to continue driving straight ahead). Understeer is relatively easy to control because releasing the gas pedal will slow the vehicle and help the driver maintain control.

However, if the front tires have more tread depth than the rear tires, the rear tires will begin to hydroplane and lose traction on wet roads before the fronts. This will cause the vehicle to begin to oversteer in which the vehicle wants to spin. Oversteer is far more difficult to control, and in addition to the initial distress felt when the rear of the car starts sliding, quickly releasing the gas pedal in an attempt to slow down may actually make it more difficult for the driver to regain control, possibly causing a complete spinout.

Full Article: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tec...2?tpage=2

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tkyoshi

Posted
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ok, but who replaces tires two at a time?

it doesnt make sense to me.. rotate them and then when they're both done, get a set of 4..

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Oh well the answer is near the top too in the first paragraph.

However due to the front tires' responsibility for transmitting acceleration, steering and most of the braking forces on front-wheel-drive vehicles, it's normal for front tires to wear faster than rear tires. If the tires aren't rotated on a regular basis, it's also common for pairs of tires to wear out rather than sets. And if the tires aren't rotated at all, it's likely that the rear tires will still have about 1/2 of their original tread depth when the front tires are completely worn out.

So basically people who don't rotate their tires on a regular basis will have 1 pair wear out faster than the other. It's actually quite common for this to happen as many people neglect their tires.

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