I got a flat last night driving near a construction zone (way to clean up boys). It's the drivers side rear tire. I just ordered a new tire from Tire Rack, and it'll be put on tomorrow.

I'm just wondering if there are any steps I should take with having a new tire in a set where the rest have 4.2k miles on them. Should I keep the newer tire in the rear, or move it up to the front?

Thanks all!

-Sean

 

Its always best to put the newest tires in the rear of the car. The reason is because new tires on the rear axle help the driver more easily maintain control on wet roads because new, deeper treaded tires are more capable of resisting hydroplaning. You have more control over the front of the vehicle than the rear. You should be fine with just over 4K miles on the existing tire. But, since differ people wear their tires differently, it wouldn't hurt to measure the tread depth on the other.

 

Neal,

I am not an expert on tires but your advice on new tire placement seems illogical to me.

If the rear of the car hydroplanes you can only control it by streering the front of the car.

If the front of the car hydroplanes you have no steering control at all and you can no longer control the front or the back of the car.

Since rear hydroplanning still gives you control of half of the car, it would be the preferred condition. (*Note: It would still suck, and scare the hell out of you.)

Therefore I would put my best tires on the front of the car.

If you have a more detailed reason for your approach I would like to hear it, but at this time I would not give or take your suggestion.

By the by I just bought some ES100 275/40/17 for my old Z28, tirerack did a good job shiping them out.

Yes I know, buy an evo, I have my eye on an '04 RS. But the z will become my beater.

 

Yup sounds pretty crazy doesn't it? I thought the same thing until we did testing with Bridgestone and Michelin on separate occasions. Every single time we put the old tires on the rear and did evasive maneuvers or skid pad runs the cars spun out. As soon as we switched the tires to the rear car didn't move.

Check out our study and results from testing with Michelin. The article, Where to Install New Pairs of Tires? Intuition Isn't Always Right. goes into more detail.

 

Obviously you cant do this if the tires are differ sized front and rear.

 

The article is suprising, I trust testing more than opinion, which was all I had. I see their point on oversteer vrs understeer.

It would apply to my car but since I am running 4 -new 275/40/17, that is as good as it gets for fat tires.

The article does not say if the car tested was RWD,FWD, or AWD. I think AWD would be a little more resistant to the problem.

Letting off the gas on any car will start a front weight shift which would make oversteer worse. I am not sure if the drive axle would make a difference or not.

Learned something from your post, still makes me a little uneasy. But you seem to have given good advice.

 

You want the front of the car to understeer. That means that the rear tires should have more grip. Thats why the rear has less tire pressure. It is Ok to have less tread on the front as long as the tires are still usable. Bald tires are dangerous period.

 

I suggest you get two tires, you can put it either in the front or rear, no more worries