Snow tyre question

[geared]

I'd still fancy the better tyres up front for the better grip they'd provide over worn ones.

[Eater Sundae]

How do you fancy hitting the brakes and sliding into something in front of you then??

 

Having decent tyres on the back and old stuff up front is stupid.

 

How do you fancy hitting the brakes and having the rear of your car overtaking the front?

[geared]

How do you fancy hitting the brakes and having the rear of your car overtaking the front?

 

With the brake balance commonly being 80-90% front 10-20% rear I'd still prefer better rubber on the wheels that are doing all the work.

[Obelix]

And when the rear breaks loose and you end up on your white knuckle ride?

 

You don't ever want the back end to let go first, especially in an emergency stop. It's a recipie for disaster and is unrecoverable unless you are an exceptionally good driver and have had a lot of practice.

[geared]

So it's better for the front brakes to go instead then??

 

Clearly if you're going fast enough to lock the rears (which are doing minimal work anyway) then in the same situation with the worn stuff at the front you'll lock the fronts up as well.

[Eater Sundae]

So it's better for the front brakes to go instead then??

 

"Not as bad" might be more appropriate than "better". It's the lesser of the two evils.

[Obelix]

So it's better for the front brakes to go instead then??

 

Clearly if you're going fast enough to lock the rears (which are doing minimal work anyway) then in the same situation with the worn stuff at the front you'll lock the fronts up as well.

 

Yes. That's a far preferable situation as you will generally notice and let the brakes go and regain control and then reapply the brakes. If you dont recover then you hit something bonnet first and you have all of the engine bay to crumple and absorb the impact.

 

If the rears go first you will not react in time, and ABS won't save you either. You would need a very good stability control system to recover when that happens.

 

Otherwise you end up spinning and either sideswiping something, rearending it, or worse still rolling.

 

Brake balance on my car is about 65/35 front to back - if youhave a car set up for 90/10 then there is something very odd about it.

[geared]

65% front is more of a 4WD setup. 80+ on the front is more common on FWD, especially with drums.

[Obelix]

I think you have your numbers mixed up a little there and the bias force doesnt care about the type of brake.

[Xt500]

I went to a tyre shop other day and they said put new tyres on rear even though my car is fwd as if I leave worn tyres on rear cars back end will kick out as you go round a bend

 

thing is with good tyres on the front you can control the rear no matter what it does (if you know what your doing)

 

THe last thing you want is the front end going,that gone you have no control at all.

with a front wheel drive,if the front end comes near its limit all you have to do is point and boot it.Its pretty irellivent what the rear is doing as the front will pull the rear straight.

 

Its the same in snow,if you lose grip on snow or ice and keep the brakes on your going to just keep sliding where your headed.Let the brakes off,turn the wheel to where you want to go and boot it.The front WILL dig in and pull you where the steering is facing.

Anyone who tells you good tyres on the rear of a FWD instead of the front cant drive!

 

---------- Post added 08-12-2014 at 17:47 ----------

 

I wouldn't fit just two winter tyres on a car. However, if I had to drive a car with mismatched tyres, I'd want the better tyres on the rear.

 

I just hope I never meet you fish-tailing towards me.

 

Thats because the only place you know anything about driving,is on forums.