Crapped. 2 tires have bubbles.

[moorecomp]

Originally Posted by jesse.rizzo

Nope, I just found this out when my friend had to get two new tires, the shop put them on the rear.

It turns out that it is much easier to regain control if your front end slides out than if the rear end does. Also, in a panic situation, most people's instinct is to brake, which puts more weight and thus more traction on the front tires. So the new tires always go on the rear.

Nope,

Around here it is standard to put the new pair on the drive wheels. Better traction in the snow!

[wyatt]

I am with whitevette, I have noticed (by lack of proper care) that the front tires seem to wear much quicker than the rear tires. I really need to get new front tires, and I would guess that the rear tires will last until I need all new tires if I do thing that way, or I can move the front to the rear and drive for a long time. My guess would be that they put the crap tires on the front because they wear out faster and they get to sell you two more.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by moorecomp

Nope,

Around here it is standard to put the new pair on the drive wheels. Better traction in the snow!

handy for those of us with front wheel drive

[Tony Raine]

yeah, newest tires ALWAYS go on the steering axle, regardless of front or rear wheel drive. in a super-emergency-extra-crisis situation, you can drive pretty far on a flat rear tire. yeah, it will tear stuff up, but its doable. try that with a flat front tire, you wont get far before you slap a telephone pole.

[bikin' Ed]

I spent a dozen or so years in the tire biz. Here's my take on the situation.
First, I'd need to see the tires to be sure, but if you have an undulation in the sidewall of the tire only it's probably no problem. Tire casings get slightly larger with use--The heat expands and stretches the rubber. Just like a rubberband, it never contracts back to it's original shape 100%. A radial valley--pointing from bead to tread-- is where the seam is and there is more rubber there, so it stretches less. A normal condition especially on older tires.

Second, new tires on FWD should always go on the front. All of your steering, all of your acceleration traction, and up to 80% of your braking come from the front. Of course they wear faster up there, they do all of the work! If you want to take real good care of your tires, rotate them regularly, they will give you more miles--as a set of 4. Regular rotation also gets you an inspection of brakes, shocks, struts, springs, exhaust--a good way to head off problems. If you need rear traction, get snow tires.

[Zukibot]

Things have recently changed in regards to where "new" tires should be installed...
TireRack study.
"Recommendations

Ideally tires should be replaced in complete sets and rotated throughout their life to equalize front-to-rear and side-to-side wear quantity while enhancing each tire’s wear quality. However when tires are replaced in pairs, the new pair of tires should always be installed on the rear axle and the existing worn tires moved to the front."

[moorecomp]

All,

I did some Google searches and the tire companies do recommend the installation of two new tires on the rear of all cars FWD or RWD. Here is a link to a video of Michelins reasoning.

Michelin | New Rear Tires

The only problem I have with this is they want me to do this for the once in a blue moon situation where the combination of hydroplaning and speed and turning all mesh into an end for end swap. In my 30+ years of driving, I have had 1 time when my vehicle swapped ends on me without warning. Winter, black ice, straight road, 40 mph, slight dip in the road, wider than stock tires on a 1974 Mercury Bobcat (Pinto clone). When the weather gets bad, I slow down and drive like I have less traction. The people who drive in bad weather without slowing down are the ones who might benefit from putting the new tires on the rear. For me, I would rather have the benefit of the new tires increased steering and braking for the unexpected times that happen more often (deer, stupid drivers) and the winter when I have to climb the winding, 1/4 mile dirt road hill to my home every day.

Also, having my tires hyperinflated to 42psi helps prevent hydroplaning.

My 2 new tires that I usually end up with every 3 years, go on the front and the old fronts go on the rear.

Works for me. YRMV.

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted by XyKo

Was taking pictures of my car today and found out that the 2 rear tires have bubble on the sides/edge of the tires.

Tires are: Toyo 800 Ultra Premium. Tires were purchased in 1998 with 45K on the odometer. Now it's 84K and the tires still have alot of treads left on them.

Guess I'll just buy 2 replacement and put those on the fronts and the other 2 Toyo in the rears. Any specific tires to get? Current size is 175/70/13. Or should I just replace all 4 tires with stock size and keep the other 2 as spares?

How about posting the photos somewhere so we can see what they look like?

[whitevette]

Originally Posted by Zukibot

Things have recently changed in regards to where "new" tires should be installed...
TireRack study.
"Recommendations

Ideally tires should be replaced in complete sets and rotated throughout their life to equalize front-to-rear and side-to-side wear quantity while enhancing each tire’s wear quality. However when tires are replaced in pairs, the new pair of tires should always be installed on the rear axle and the existing worn tires moved to the front."

Since front tires wear out sooner than rear tires ( this seems to be the consensus), can we assume the front tires are also doing most of the work in steering, stopping, holding up the heavy end of the vehicle?
Based on this fact alone, why put worn tires where most of the work needs doing?
Seems kinda dangerous to me ....
I'll go with new tires up front, thank you.

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted by whitevette

Since front tires wear out sooner than rear tires ( this seems to be the consensus), can we assume the front tires are also doing most of the work in steering, stopping, holding up the heavy end of the vehicle?
Based on this fact alone, why put worn tires where most of the work needs doing?
Seems kinda dangerous to me ....
I'll go with new tires up front, thank you.

If I understand the theory correctly, the danger is in low traction situations, such as wet or snowy road surfaces, and especially hydroplaning. In these situations - where more tread depth improves traction, and more speed hurts traction - having the better tires on the rear allows the vehicle to lose traction at the front first. When the vehicle slows down, traction returns and the vehicle can be steered away from potential obstacles.

The opposite - losing traction at the rear first - causes the rear to swing around. When the speed drops and traction returns, the vehicle is pointed in the wrong direction and can not be steered away from on-coming objects.

[OfficeLinebacker]

I get the reasoning behind choosing understeer vs. oversteer, but my personal preference is oversteer.

For me understeer means I just keep going straight into whatever I was trying to avoid. Sure there's a slight chance that traction will return, but for me that only happens when I realize that having max. press. on the brake isn't working, I let up, and the car suddenly turns at the last second.

When I spin out, true I have less control, but at least I am not pointing exactly in the direction I am trying to avoid.

Sort of like the broken clock is right every 12 hours thing. In my experience, when I am going a panic manouvre, the direction I am first pointing in is generally the least desirable option. Even if a spin out means essentially a random outcome as far as direction, that's still preferable to the understeer option.

That, and doing panic manouvres on my own in deserted parking lots and whatnot, I find the option that is most comfortable to me.

The most important thing to me is predictability and practice. If the panic manouvre is the first time you've ever taken your vehicle's handling to the limit, then you're best off bending over and kissing your ass goodbye. If you've done it before in surroundings where the worst outcome of loss of control is some lost rubber and lots of squealing noises, your chances of coming out of it OK are exponentially better, regardless of where the worn tires are.