where to place new tires on front whhel

I just had two new tires put on my 06 HHR. They would only put new ones on the back. The front ones are about 50% I had never heard of putting the better tread on rear of a front wheel drive car. I kind of think Sullivan is giving me the business.
 
big brother mandating everything in our lives now. Does no good to have the best tires on wheels that are just dragged around.
 
My sister had that at walmart, I did as well. There is a paper they have you sign that it is what you wanted. Didnt make sense to me either.
 
The thinking is if you blow a rear tire, you will spin,if you blow a front tire you should be able to steer the car/truck to a stop. I want the new ones on the front.
 
They should put them wherever you want them to go but the best spot is on the rear. The theory behind that is for traction, in the event that your vehicle loses traction (braking or acceleration) the front end will do so first and cause an understeer, its going to want to maintain forward momentum. If the tires with the least amount of tread are on the back and they lose traction the vehicle will try to over-steer, going sideways or spin-out. Over-steer is a lot harder to control vs understeer. Either scenario takes some skill to overcome if severe enough though.

So, if you are interested in safety put the best tires on the back. Keeping your tires rotated usually solves not having one end wear out faster than the others.
 
While it doesn't make sense it is the correct thing to do( new tires on back). I have had a couple cars that the back end will swerve out on roads that I did not even think were slippery.Our 04 Malibu is real bad almost to getting rid of it. The car will get enough traction even with poorer tires in front and going around a curve the back end goes out of line easy, it is scary at that point( yes I usually back off speed a lot in those conditions.)The newer cars rear ends are really light so they don't stay planted on the road and I will not carry extra weight to do it.
 
I rotate my tires every time I change the oil, and replace all 4 at the same time. Can't imagine doing it any other way.
 
Exactly! It has always been a safety concern that dictated where new tires were placed when buying only two. The safety ideal was that a front tire going down can be safely steered off onto the shoulder , but a rear tire going down could cause the car to swerve off the road or into the oncoming lane...doesn't matter when buying 4.
 
Roger was right you put new tires on rear with a front wheel drive vehicles. You will have better control on ice and wet pavement.
 
Its not just big brother the tire companies are always testing tires for handling in all conditions. They have found that the new front wheel drive will handle better with new tires put in rear when braking in slippery conditions.
 
Given the poor handling characteristics of the HHR you'll want the better tread on the back. As posted previously a front wheel drive car with poor tires on the back is much more prone to over steer if the rear end loses traction - and an HHR is horrible with this issue given its light weight and overly wide tires. I like the one I had as long as the roads were dry, any kind of rain or even the slightest bit of snow and it was worthless.
 
I wouldn't buy any tires from Walmart. A number of years ago I took my daughters Ford tempo in for new tires at Walmart. The guy there went out to check tire size and came back and said the tires on car were over size and he couldn't put that size on car ( said it was Fed. law) but car had original tires on it. I wet and got tires from local tire dealer and there is not Fed. law its one of Walmart's stupid laws.
 
(quoted from post at 11:39:48 04/26/16) Actually its the lawyers and their ambulance chasing lawsuits.
K......combine dhermesc and 4play answers and then you have the correct answer. The over/under steer problem will occur with either front wheel drive or rear wheel drive.
 
doesn't matter whether front or rear wheel drive,if rear tire blows or goes flat very fast you will go for hellof a ride till you get stopped.after happening to me twice years ago I make sure rears are best.
 
I ran into that 15 years ago when putting a pair of new tires on a FWD car. I was looking for the best traction to get moving in snow. The thinking behind putting the best tires on the rear axle is: if the rear axle breaks loose on a turn, most people would have a tough time recovering control (much like when a RWD posi-traction car or pickup breaks loose on an icy hill). Few people are skilled sprint car drivers, I'm not either.

You can still move the tires where you want them when you get home.
 
What these guys say about slipping and sliding on the rear end makes sense as I had that happen to my little car. Snow tires on all 4 from now on !
I have had a couple of flat tires on the rears of 2 different FWD and did not notice it much at all ? In fact the one the faster I drove the better it seemed as it must of keep it round from centrifugal force ? I made it home without damage to the rim but the tire was junk anyhow.
 
That's what I always heard. Put the best ones on the rear. The theory being if a front tire blows, you can still steer and keep better control over the vehicle than if a rear blows.

Of course, how many times do you hear of a tire simply blowing out with no warning nowadays?
 
Steve I owned a tire shop for 22 years. In Iowa, It is not a law, not mandatory to put new tires on the rear. It is an insurance company thing. Our insurance company wanted us to have the customer sign a release form if we put new tires on the front. We put thousands of new tires on the front and moved the old ones to the rear. It is 1930- 1940- 1950's thinking. When you had bias ply - tube type tires on your car that was correct procedure. As the older generation stops driving, the younger generations are starting to realize that is wrong. With todays radial tires tests have proven it is better to have new on the rear.
 
New tires on rear do not address the problem of hydroplaning in straight ahead mode and losing steering control and/or braking control. The rear tires follow in the tracks of the front, so they should not hydroplane as the pavement is "wiped".

Ideally you have all "new" tires on all the time, but that is not practical!
 
Yeah, I wouldn't put any tires at [i:654c4848f0]all[/i:654c4848f0] on there. That would show them.

In reality, the back will spin out and attempt to pass the front in slippery situations if the back has less traction. Since most people aren't experts in this area, a reputable shop should inform the customer thet the better tires should be on the back. Of course, if you know better you should be free to do whatever you want. Here's hoping you don't take out an innocent bystander as you spin down the road...
 
Why aren't all new tires "practical"? With proper rotation and decent alignment they should all wear out at about the same time.
 
Let me see. The front tires do all the steering, 90% of the braking and carry most of the load. If I was to buy only two then they will definitely be on the front of the car.
 
(quoted from post at 19:48:34 04/27/16) Let me see. The front tires do all the steering, 90% of the braking and carry most of the load. If I was to buy only two then they will definitely be on the front of the car.
s has been said, "...free to do whatever you want. Here's hoping you don't take out an innocent bystander as you spin down the road...".
 
Could never understand why people don't get alignments done or rotate tires and always buy tires two at a time.
 
Front wheel drive car has more weight on the front (engine, transmission and front passengers) making it less prone to hydroplaning in straight ahead mode while the back end will wag like a dogs tail unless its loaded.
 
Not practical when one tire gets a nail at the tread edge and tire still has over half of life left and it cannot be repaired. So you end up buying two. Now you have two new and two half worn out. Practical??? Has happened often....
 
Even the professional drivers don't like or can control a car that has the rear tires start sliding in a turn, especially on pavement. It's not hard on dirt, but the high traction from pavement means you're really hauling to have the rear break loose on dry pavement.

I doubt there are many Formula 1 fans on this forum, but 7 time world champion Michael Schumacher had his cars built so he could break the rear loose and pivot the car around the front tires to quicken how fast he could get the car to turn. He was about the only one in the last 20 years that could do that. Everybody else set up the car to understeer, just turn the steering wheel into the turn and not using oversteer to turn the car.

I learned to drive in a '65 Corvair, when there was packed snow on some streets with no traffic, I'd get it sideways and learn how the counter-steer out of the skid. It's come in quite handy over the years, to be able to control the car in a skid.
 
Sounds to me like most of ya'll need to learn to slow down. It don't matter. You should be rotating those tires anyway. JMO
 
(quoted from post at 23:15:13 05/01/16) When the NASCAR boys take only two new tires they always put them on the right side. :)
hat because they only know how to turn left!
 

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