Strange tyre story ?

TonyB wrote:

http://www.tyresafe.org/news-and-events/detail/motorists-get-their-tyres--back-to-front--/

Andy C

Andy Cap wrote:

http://www.tyresafe.org/news-and-events/detail/motorists-get-their-tyres--back-to-front--/

Always controversial. Obviously you get shorter braking distance if new
tyres gets on the front, but with a slight risk of car spinning back to
front if the rear tyres are that bad. If the rear tyres aren't that bad,
then I would put the new tyres on front to even out the wear. Then chances
are that you could make a discount deal next time for replacing all four.

I suspect there is a bit of tyre industry interest in the "new tyres on
the back", statement, since it shortens the time period when the customer
needs new tyres and thereby reduces the chances that the customer could
get a discount deal on all four. Hence it evens out the tyre business.

Depends what you mean by common sense. If you'd ever been in a situation
where the rear wheels locked before the fronts when braking hard, you'd
realise the need for the best grip to be on the back.

--
*I don't have a solution, but I admire your problem. *

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

That's fairly common, especially on cars without ABS, purely because of
the weight transfer onto the front end.
--
SteveH

Not on any car I've ever owned. Even the original Mini on drum brakes had
a pressure restricting valve to the rear brakes.

--
*Friends help you move.  Real friends help you move bodies.

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

If you have snow chains on only one end of the car, they have to go on the
back[1]. If you have two radials and two cross plies[2], the radials have to
go on the back. If you have two new and two old tyres, the new tyres should
be on the back. All of these are for the same reason, which is to help keep
the car in a straight  line when braking.

Steve

[1] Yes, even if it's FWD.
[2] I know, a rare beast nowadays the crossply, but presumably the law still
applies.

shazzbat wrote:

No. The reason crossplies have to go on the front is they develop much
higher slip angles when cornering than radials. That means they would
produce oversteer if fitted at the back which would make the car unstable
during cornering and prone to having the back end step out. It has nothing
to do with braking.

You can replicate the situation of crossplies on the rear if you pump the
front tyres up very high and let some air out of the back ones. Try 40 psi
in the front and 20 psi in the rear. Then go for a drive and see what
happens. The car will feel like it wants to point further into a corner than
you want it to and the back end wants to step out all the time. As you try
to turn into a corner the car moves further in than you want and you have to
wind some lock off and it all gets very twitchy. If you push it the car will
head off the road backwards. It will however brake in a straight line
perfectly normally.

As to the snow chains those go on the back so if the vehicle skids either
during braking or cornering it skids from the front end not the rear and
doesn't swap ends. Basically the same reason why the better gripping tyres
go on the rear.
--
Dave Baker

Many years ago before the rule about radials going on the back if a mix is
fitted, a pal had a MkII Ford Zephyr. That seemed to handle much better
with radials on the front, good quality cross plies on the back. Even in
the wet. Not that I'd recommend anyone trying it these days. ;-)

--
*Reality is the illusion that occurs due to the lack of alcohol *

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

We appear to agree on 2 out of 3 here. I can live with differing on .

Steve

On 1. On 1. Duh.

The purpose of snow chains is to provide traction under arduous
conditions. Fitting them to the rear only of a FWD car might be safe but
rather pointless. ;-)

--
*El nino made me do it

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 11/07/2011 10:22, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Way back when, our company hack in NL was a VW Variant estate. Horrible
bloody thing. Rear engine, RWD, front end felt like it was made of
rubber bands and watch springs. Studded tyres fitted on the rear because
the roads were covered in ice and hard-packed snow gave plenty of
traction, but you could scarcely make it turn.

--
Peter

Having the weight over the driven wheels definitely gives the best
traction, with a 2 wheel drive. And since you're most likely to need that
on a hill, a rear engine RWD will be best. Or reverse up it with a FWD.
 But that is only to get it moving. Steering and stopping a different
matter.

--
*Funny, I don't remember being absent minded.

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

We had a hillman imp van (Husky?)  A bag or two of cement in the front boot
was vital in icy conditions.

On Thu, 21 Jul 2011 09:13:09 +0100, "Mrcheerful"


One would have thought a Husky was Ideal in Icy conditions.

G.Harman

On Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:35:25 +0100, damduck-egg wrote:

[...]


LOL!

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

My second car was  a 1966, 6 volt one of those. I'd have another anytime.
Brilliant car for it's day. I never drove it on snow mind.

Steve

shazzbat wrote:

I crashed one (early beetle), I was driving along a major road in icy
conditions, just after I left a built up area I was rolling along , all on
my own when I found that I was starting to face right a bit, I thought that
the back end was sliding into the kerb and steered a bit left, but what was
actually happening was that the wind from the left was blowing the nose
across the road.  There was nothing to do except wait for it to stop, which
it did, backwards off the road on the opposite side into a wooden fence.

shazzbat wrote:


Is that a UK law?

My VW Transporter (FWD) instruction manual states:

"Snow chains may only be fitted on the front wheels - even on the
syncro." [4WD model]

John