What do you make of this Michelin mounting policy?

Michelin does not mount tires in the US (don't know about other countries). That is done by independent retailers (independent of Michelin).

countries).

Well they don't mount tires in Canada either. What they are saying is their dealers are going to do this, and I'm interested in people thoughts on mounting 2 new tires on FWD cars on the back.

Maybe in France, they own their tire stores, I don't know. I doubt seriously that it will impact anyone in the US. When you get new tires, the tire store asks for instructions on where to mount them and what kind of rotation to use (if any). They never do anything by default without asking (unless you purchase 4 new tires).

Maybe tie stores might "recommend" putting them on the rear, but it is always up to the customer where the new tires are mounted, assuming the proper tires are purchased for the vehicle.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Father Guido being of bellicose mind posted:

My limited experience with FWD cars is that the front tires are worn away at a much higher rate than than the rears so... your inquiry is puzzling. With steering, driving, a much higher weight bias on the front tires, and 75% of your braking on the front .... why would you put your sticky tires on the rear in stead of the front? What am I missing?

It is not just Michelin that makes this recommendation.

Father Guido wrote:

Been there done that. Even half worn all seasons on the rear and new ones on the front makes it real dangerous in the snow here.(New Brunswick-thats Canada eh) Fun but dangerous. Every time you turn a corner the front tucks in and lets the rear go loose out. I buy 4 winters now with insurance rates what they are but if you put 2 on put them on the back for everyday use and you can use the park brake for extra turning power when understeering towards a pole. Thats what I always did in town at slower speeds. There are some grease monkeys here that put them on rims and when a storms coming they put them on the front just for the storm for traction. But speeds are low and they keep it in mind and slow down around corners.

I guess being a professional ruck driver gives you different driving skills. The reason many tire store will mount the new tires on the rear wheels of a front wheel drive car is because most drivers can handle the front end sliding much better than the rear end sliding.

Try this on: A semi truck bears more resemblance to a FWD vehicle. The load is being "pulled" and "steered" by the leading end of the load. How 'bout that? ;-) ONLY new tires are permitted on the steer axle and the next best quality tires are on the tractor drive axles. The oldest (recapped for the second or thir time) are used only on the trailer tandems.

Tread does not make the tire "Sticky"... tread makes it less prone to hydroplaning. A slick tire has more surface area in contact with the road, and will have better DRY traction. Siping will tend to help dry traction.

A "new" tire on the rear would therefore be more resistant to breaking traction on a wet surface. Of course, when the rear breaks traction, it tends to try to trade places with the front end.

--- Rich

Interesting analogy - I learn things everyday. However, my personal

experience is if the front wheels have better grip than the rear wheels,

things get real interesting on a snow covered curve.

A radical test would be to put snow tires on the front wheels and leave all seasons on the back. Accelerate hard enough into a snow covered curve and you will perform a doughnut with the rear end spinning around with the front end in the middle of the circle. Reverse the tires and the car does not spin around - it slides in a straight line, if it slides at all. I would expect the results to less extreme if you compared new all-seasons versus old all seasons of the same make and size.

PS - this test was done with Pirelli Winter 190s (Snow tire) and Pirelli P6 (All season tires). I won't admit by whom - to protect the innocent or guilty as the case may be. Whoever did this test had way too much free time and was trying to find out an easy way to make a front wheel drive do doughnuts in the snow.

Philip is right, which proves the point of mounting better tires on the rear, although he doesn't know it.

The tractor-trailer/front-wheel-drive analogy is proved by all of the T-Ts you see with in the ditch with the cab pointed the wrong way.

Dan

In news:I9OdnWXML6vd snipped-for-privacy@magma.ca, dgates-at-keller - no - space - engineering - dot - com"

All I know is that that policy cost me money. When they mount the tires in the rear, defects are not easily detectable. When I rotated the new tires to the front just past a year, i found a defective Michelin and had to pay to replace because it was just over a year. The tire was not consistent and a bad roller

Here's a suggestion:

Next time you buy new tires, rotate them after a couple thousand miles just to check. Last time I bought tires had "radial pull" in one of the fronts (just luck they were mounted there).