3dog

iTrader: (1)

Hi

My wife took her car into dealership last week and they rotated the tires and gave her a 70 k
service. This week I took her car to a local tire shop to have the 3.76 LSD installed (99GS400)

The local tire shop guy calls me up saying the front tires only have 50% tread left and do I want them put on the rear.

So we get into a discussion of where the tires with the most tread should be. He thinks that because of the weight of the engine the front should have the most tread. I think that because it is rear wheel drive the rear should have the most tread.

I called Lexus dealership and talked to my buddy there and he said they had just had some expert come out and tell them put the most tread on the axle where the traction is.

What do you guys think?


Ivan
3dog

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

I always thought it was the rear was supposed to have the most traction... At least thats what i thought when i had the mustang I may be wrong... but for braking and safety it may be the front.. Not sure

CPALex

The tires with the most tread go to the axle providing the power.

joshoowa

iTrader: (1)

i was told u want the most traction in the front because of steering purposes...

salimshah

The old school thinking has been that the front gets the most abuse and for directional stability and braking, put the tires with the most tread in the front. For rear wheel drive obviously the push would come from the back, but it is the only factor. This has been challanged by the new study which claims directioal stability is very much affected by tires in the back.

This study from a major tire manufacturer (Dunlop or Michellin .. I dont remember) but if you go to Discount Tires, they have the counter savers (similar to screen savers) plastered with this info. So when I got a pair of new tires and asked them to install them in the front, the guy lectured me for 0.5 minute ... which ended with ,, so you want to go against the study ...

Needless to say that I went with my old school ways. As long as the tires have reasonable tread, they will work just fine .. not necessarily optium .... irrespective of where you instal them.

Salim

GRAND_LS 4

iTrader: (2)

Personally, i would put the ones with the most tread in the front.... we all know what happens if the front blows...

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

i concur with grand b/c you have to move the front so much more than the back

mkorsu

I'm with the guys here that the drive wheels get the better tread.

As for a blow out??? Not gonna happen with 50% tread. Unless your running on a slick and start having belts show through, no worries.

My feelings are: Dry conditions, irrelevant, 50% reduction in tread will have no bearing on traction. We're talking about rubber on road surface here. Traction remains the same. Tread REALLY comes into play in inclement weather. Some reduction in grip in the front will result in increased understeer. Reduced traction in the rear means increased oversteer, or a spin-out. Couple that fact that our cars are RWD, all make ample power, a little rain, poor tread in the back and WOOPS, off the road. A little slip in the front can be corrected with either very slight braking (to shift more weight to the front), or a blip of the throttle to use the rear to correct the front.

Just my .87 (it used to be .02, but I've raised prices like the gas companies)

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

I too would put the most tread in the front. More tread almost always means better steering feel and handling, which means that you can enjoy the benefits of newer tires every day, all the time. Perhaps most importantly, the deeper tread will resist hydroplaning (one of the leading causes of loss of control at speed) much better. The rear isn't going to hydroplane much because the fronts have already knocked the standing water away so that the rear, even with less tread, will get a decent bite on the pavement. Therefore, traction for the rear isn't going to be much of a problem. And, acceleration/wheel spin wise, there's always the traction control to look out for the rear.

mkorsu

Here's some info I found online:

from Policedriving.com

When buying just two new tires, should they be put on the front or rear?

When radial tires are used with bias or bias belted tires on the same car, the radials must always be placed on the rear axle. When you select a pair of replacement tires in the same size and construction as those on the car, We recommend you put them on the rear axle. A single new tire should be paired on the rear axle with the tire having the most tread depth of the other three.

Goodyear.com

When buying just two new tires, should they be put on the front or rear?


When radial tires are used with bias or bias belted tires on the same car, the radials must always be placed on the rear axle. Never mix radial and bias-ply tires on the same axle. When you select a pair of replacement tires in the same size and construction as those on the car, we recommend you put them on the rear axle. A single new tire should be paired on the rear axle with the tire having the most tread depth of the other three.

Back to Top


Michelinman.com

Where do I install new tires if I only buy two?
If you're replacing only two tires, be sure to have them installed on your vehicle's rear axle. New tires will provide better grip than your half-worn tires and when they are installed on the rear that helps reduce the potential for your vehicle to fishtail or hydroplane in wet conditions.

Plus, go to michelinman.com (Michelin tire web site) and under the tips section, you will find the area about purchasing 2 tires and where they should be mounted. Watch the video and you'll never mount those tires on the front again.

Brandon@TR

Good thread. MKORSU is correct.

Where do I install new pairs of tires?

3dog

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for all the comments everyone.

My wife and I both have 99 GS400.
As I stated before she just got the 3.76 LSD.
I've got that plus a torqueconverter and a
RMM Supercharger 360 rwhp.

So rear wheel traction is very important.

I did like what I6turbo said about hydroplaning.
We live in Seattle Washington and it rains alot.
Not just once in a while either.
In the winter months the roads are wet most of the time.
So we both have Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 245/45/17, I saw they were rated really high on the tire rack for wet driving and resistance to hydroplaning.
We've had the cars a couple of years now and those tires worked really well in the wet conditions and whenever it drys out.

If the car starts hydroplaning because 50 % tread is not enough I guess we will replace. I'm hoping to get thru this winter and maybe replace next spring with Mich PPS2

Thanks again
Ivan
3dog

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

Call me stubborn, or just making my own decisions based upon my experience, but despite what the tire mfg. web sites say, I STILL will put the most tread on the front in most cases. I think the advice on the tires mfg sites is irresponsible because hydroplaning is more likely to begin at the front wheels, plus, MOST cars nowadays are FWD, which makes the tendency that much worse. The Michelin site, for example, seems to assume that the car in question is RWD as they are talking about fishtailing (giving them the benefit of the doubt for not thinking that the rear will fishtail under no power).

FWD cars with less than great tread are VERY suseptible to hydroplaning. I've experienced it myself and it's damned dangerous. I was driving on I-40 between Knoxville and Nashville in a Nissan Maxima. The Maxima had the original Bridgestone tires on it, and they had worn to the point that there wasn't much depth at all on the outside shoulders (but they weren't yet worn to the wear bars). It had obviously been raining a few minutes earlier, but wasn't actually raining at the time. I was driving about 75 MPH, and all of a sudden the front end started drifting off. I eased up on the throttle, gently tried to bring the car under control, but it got crossed up anyway. It went back and forth a couple of times, getting more broadside every time. I was just about to slam the brakes and hope for the best because I thought it was gone, but just then it didn't come around as far and I was lucky enough to bring it back under control. Not bragging, but when I was growing up I had a lot of experience driving like a maniac on gravel and dirt roads and the occasional icy road, and deliberately putting vehicles in that attitude, so I suspect I was able to bring the car back under control when 99% of drivers would not have been so lucky. That experience taught me that the tires with the best traction go on the front. Reason tells me the same, even on a rear drive car.

machinegt

Maybe it is supposed to be:

- New tires on rear for RWD
- New tires on front for FWD

So for us RWD lexus owners I would think putting the most tread on the rear.
I've noticed how much power the V8 engines have and can easily spin the rears, so if you dont keep good traction in the back while flooring the gas u may experience some sliding.

Unless the other set of tires on the front have very poor tread -- that would be extremely dangerous under any circumstances because it reduces traction for turning.