jlawr

In reference to a comment made on a previous thread when buying only two new tires:

Why is it that new tires should be put on the rear?

That would leave old, more worn tires on the front. The worn tires would hydroplane more easily and make it it harder to steer out of a skid due to less tread depth.

When you lose control, the first thing you do is take your foot off the accelerator, rendering the rear tires useless for regaining control. Even if you try to power through a skid you'll have less steering ability.

I'd rather keep the old tires in the rear and be able to recover with new tires on the front than grip the road in the rear and crash 'cause I was unable to control my steering.

What am I missing?

Fhobbs

I don't know the technical reason, but both Goodyear and discount tire have said that to me on other cars. I don't think I would leave old worn tires on my Lexus. I would love to know the reasoning behind this because for the last 40 years I was told to have the best tires on the front.

SW17LS

The reason is that skidding of the front wheels, or understeer, is easier to control than a skid of the rear wheels, or oversteer. For an average driver, an oversteer situation is potentially very dangerous. Google it, articles about it all over the internet.

The axle with the worn tires is going to be more prone to hydroplaning and loss of traction, its kind of the lesser of two evils.

That said, I would never just replace two tires. Replace all 4, don't be cheap. Safety is too important.

This highlights the issue. You cannot "power out of" a skid, especially an oversteer situation. Applying additional power will worsen the skid, you need to reduce power and steer into the skid to regain control in an oversteer situation. If your rear is out and you try and "power out"...thats called a doughnut lol. Most American drivers have very little understanding of the physics involved in driving a car, and very little experience getting a car out of adverse driving situations. Hence...good tires on the back.

SW17LS

This is old, but good:


Remember that your LS is a high powered, V8 RWD car. Oversteer is a very real possibility.

RandyV

I've had it explained to me to imagine the forward dynamics of a car like those of an arrow.

The rear fletching (feathers) on the arrow provides the greater amount of trajectory control, and thus why it is 'better' to have a blow out on a front tire rather than a rear.