Am I going Crazy-put new tires on the rear

[rossmon1]

I sent my daughter to Costco to buy 2 new tires. I told her to have them put the 2 new ones on the front and put the 2 best old ones on the rear wheels. (they have about 20% tread left).
Costco would only mount the new tires on the rear wheels.
I called the store mgr and thats their policy but they had no technical explanation. I explained my technical understanding, told them that I used to teach auto shop but didn't make a dent.
OK so what gives and for those who don't know/
Front wheels - most of the braking / all of the steering - most dangerous wheels to have flat or blow out.

 

[Spider5]

Do a search because I remember about six months ago there was a 4runner owner here that just replaced the rears and crashed because of it. It had something to do with wearing off the film when breaking in the tires and it made the tires slick. The slick tires just in the rear made for an easy tendency to spin out.

Somthing like that.

 

[sharp4runr]

If you look at all the big tire manufacturers websites, they all state that you put the new tires on the REAR. The reason being is that if the older tires are in the rear, the rear end could fish tail easier. It is possible that a more experienced driver would be able to compensate for the lost traction in the rear, but why put yourself in that position?

Check this thread for some good discussion on the subject. The pertinent stuff is near the middle and it just gets argumentative closer to the end: http://toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11268&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

 

[ovrrdrive]

Common sense says the new ones on the front, but I've always heard that the experts say to put them on the rear.

The reason is that if you get in a spin, the new ones on the back will help you regain control of the vehicle.

The best idea is to rotate your tires regularly and replace them in sets of 4.

 

[05SportV8]

Okay... let me get some impulse here...

I agree with the"experts" that say put your new tires in the back if you are driving an old car.
Old cars were mostly rear wheel drive, thus bad tires in the back especially in bad weather were fishtailing all the time.
Old cars had no abs, rear wheels are most likely to lock under hard breaking. Inertia shifts mass to the front leaving the back very light.
Old cars had mostly open differentials, which made a tire spin easily.
Old cars had smaller tires, overall contact area was less than present cars.

Likely the "expert advice" had older roots.

New cars with abs, limited slip, vehicle stability control have a better control of wheel spin.

If you have a front wheel drive car you are better with the newer tires on the front. Anybody that tells you the opposite, has not driven a front wheel drive. I am not even going to deal with this point.

If your car is rear wheel drive and if your car fish-tails and you don't freak out, you can regain control if you know what to do.
If your front end loses grip there is very little you can do to fix the situation. Put your new tires--> front

If you are in an area with high chance of water accumulating on the road, then your front tires are many more times likely to hydroplane than the rear ones. The front ones move water away thus the rear ones have better chance to make contact with terrain. In an area with this situation you better have your best tires --> front.

Hard breaking as stated above stresses the front a lot more than the back due to the mass shift. Put the tires less likely to blow --> front.

Should I go on?

Tell the manager of the store that you have an AWD , abs, vsc, atrac equipped vehicle. That your safety is first and that the new tires go in the front or tell him to e-mail me. =)

SpV8

 

[RonMAIDEN]

It's usually policy and they won't change their policy due to a lawsuit claiming something amiss from putting new tires on the front. Just buy 'em and then switch them yourself but you really need to get all 4 tires at once is the best advice.