Wife tried to by 2 new tyres her lupo from costco on saturday. She asked for them to swap wheels about put the two new ones on the front and the two best old ones on the rear.

Man at costco refused as its their policy only to put the new tyres on the rear in this case!

Whats that all about? I even checked the VW manual and it says put the new ones on the front. Needless to say she didnt buy the tyres from Costco...

It's probably some H&S course he was sent on saying that rear tyres need to be the grippiest in case of skidding on the corners.

I've heard of this before.

Had two new tyres put on my ZT rears, and likewise asked them to swap f to b.

No problem Sir!

Freeway in T/Wells

ATB

Simon

i worked for ats a few years back and that was theer policy to

god knows why lol

but at the end of the day the customer is always right if they want new tyres on the front thats where they went

There is a school of thought which retains that even on on a FWD car the rear tyres should still be the best pair, I guess after a U turn by the early FWD advocates due to some disproval of the obvious?

Some time ago Top Gear showed the effects of new fronts v old rears on a front wheel drive car.
In the wet the back broke away at suprisingly low speed.
They then reversed the tyres i.e old fronts, new rears and the back end stayed planted. Presumably the combination of heavy front end, engine braking on the front and extra grip from new tyres upset the handling. Whether the same applies to rear drive remains to be seen.
Cheers, Pewe

On one of the other forums (or maybe this one) there was a link to some tests done by one of the motoring standards bodies. (I can't remember where but think I saw it on OZclubbies).

That test proved pretty conclusively that it was much safer in the wet to have the bad tyres aquaplane earlier in the front than at the back and made strong recommendations that the best tyres should be at the back on FWD cars.

I actually saw this happen to a Opel T car one day in heavy rain in front of me on a dead straight piece of road. It's back end aquaplaned and slid ever so gently down the camber till it's back wheels hit a ditch and it started to barrell roll down the road. I came to a slow stop right next to it as it stopped rolling, fortunately the driver was OK.

We were both doing around 100kph at the time.

It happened so slowly that I had time to tell the wife to watch the show as she was bending down to get something out of the footwell at the time.

I also think that there is some sense in a front aquaplane to retain traction for gentle braking at the back by having the best tyres at the back as it will keep you going straight until traction is regained at the front

[Edited on 29/5/07 by Ivan]

I've spent alot of time at my pug dealers parts desk - they have a tyre saftey poster from one of the tyre brands (and its aimed at fwd cars)

and one of the things it says it is to fit new tyres to the rear - because it will help stop the rear from letting go first

thats not the whole reson though - its not saying that this is good or bad - just that when you give the car back to the typical customer (who has no clue about oily bits or grip levels) it won't have changed to much and will be more predictable for them

pesonaly I always get my new tyres on the front every time - but then the back end of my pug only slides out on gravel (and even then you need the handbrake to make it really let go )

It's the usual story - the eleventh commandmant "Thou shalt not have oversteer for it is beyond the average dipstick to control it"

I can say that here in Belgium new tyres are always put at the back as this conserves the handling of the car like before the tyres got changed (most worn at the front)

I have a company car and do about 40k per year, so get tyres changed regularly. And I had both, once they moved back to front and put new on the back, and once just put new ones on the front.

I can tell you that handling changes drastically when you get new ones up front. I didn't mind as it gave me a lot more grip up front, but I can imagine when you do this to a car that is driven less then 20k/year or so by the wife doing up and down to school and the supermarket that this can be surprising at times.

Costco have always done this and won't do what the customer requests - they are a big American company and presumably don't want to get sued.

The irritating thing is they refused to put the minimally worn rears on the front where the tyres were only just legal. Drove home spent 30mins swapping them myself and drove back to get the new pair on the rear as requested. Madness.

i had this with my old pug. had some good new ones on the front and crap old ones on the back. You have to be a bit careful in the wet as it would feel like you had loads of grip and then the back would drift out.

Quite good fun but awee bit odd

I never thought of it that way!
I'll have to get the new ones on the back from now on...

One time, there was so much snow and we had so little tread that from 10mph it would take at least 200 ft to stop. Maybe 300 even. "launching" was a slow exercise in clutch control. I literally had to go so slowly that I never needed to touch the brakes - just engine brake 'til at a near stop, then the lights would change. I cruised through a couple red lights on full lock up before we made an appointment with the shoe fitters.

We went and got brand new tires in the front, with the two best in the back (guessing around 2-3 16ths tread left)

On the road away from the tire shop, the new tires in the front inspired so much confidence that I got it up to almost 30.

The first gradual curve in the road saw me pointing in the direction I came - so we contemplated the accounts and headed back for 2 more tires.

The thought of railroading off the highway isn't pleasant, but doing a 180 around a gradual bend was downright scary. Best to face forward I suppose.

Oh the joys of front wheel drive shite cars!!!

Bin them all I say and buy something decent!!

The root of the problem is crap drivers that think a road has the same level of grip in both the wet and dry.

Both me and my brother always comment on the number of (unfortunately often women, sorry but it is ! ) drivers who go down a lane near our house relatively sedately in the dry, but then we often follow the same car and driver at the same speed in the wet, when we are then driving at the fastest comfortable speed..................

I can GUARANTEE the driver in front on these occasions does not know how near the grip limit he/she is.

Modern, over-insulated, rubber-filled front wheel drive shopping trolleys do nothing to help this.

quote:

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Originally posted by NS Dev
Oh the joys of front wheel drive shite cars!!!

Modern, over-insulated, rubber-filled front wheel drive shopping trolleys do nothing to help this.

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quote:

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Originally posted by NS Dev
Modern, over-insulated, rubber-filled front wheel drive shopping trolleys do nothing to help this.

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