4 motion tyre wear- new fronts only?

[Chunkymunky]

Hi all
Checking tyres before MOT and note while all still legal , there is excessive wear on outside of fronts compared to rear- fronts are running much lower than rears that have loads of meat on them - all were replaced as set by prev owner
I’ve checked previous threads and am aware that this isn’t an uncommon issue ( but still fail to fully understand why)-however would seek some advice over tyre replacement-
I had a puncture replaced last month in France to the front and so am keen to get new anyway rather than swap front to back but what is best practice on 4m? Am I ok with replacing front as a pair ( I have prev done this with Quattro tyres)? Any probs with changing tyre types ( currently has Michelin primacy 4 but would look to michelin cross climates next time)
Cheers

 

[Velma's Dad]

Just be aware of the inadvisability of running 'best' tyres on the front of any vehicle - usually okay but when lightly loaded on the back and you lift off suddenly or brake you may trigger oversteer, even on an AWD.

Hence the tyre manufacturers all advise swapping tyres round so that the newest are on the back.

 

[Chunkymunky]

Just be aware of the inadvisability of running 'best' tyres on the front of any vehicle - usually okay but when lightly loaded on the back and you lift off suddenly or brake you may trigger oversteer, even on an AWD.

Hence the tyre manufacturers all advise swapping tyres round so that the newest are on the back.

Thanks for that
I’ve never heard of that in twenty years of driving but on reflection makes a lot of sense to some issues I’ve had in the past on other cars! My instinct has always been to have best tread on steering wheels/ driven wheels - you live and learn !

 

[Loz]

Thanks for that
I’ve never heard of that in twenty years of driving but on reflection makes a lot of sense to some issues I’ve had in the past on other cars! My instinct has always been to have best tread on steering wheels/ driven wheels - you live and learn !

There was a push to recommend this as safety “experts” said its better to understeer into an accident than have an oversteer one.
I normally swap front to back wear them down evenly then replace all 4.

 

[WelshGas]

Hi all
Checking tyres before MOT and note while all still legal , there is excessive wear on outside of fronts compared to rear- fronts are running much lower than rears that have loads of meat on them - all were replaced as set by prev owner
I’ve checked previous threads and am aware that this isn’t an uncommon issue ( but still fail to fully understand why)-however would seek some advice over tyre replacement-
I had a puncture replaced last month in France to the front and so am keen to get new anyway rather than swap front to back but what is best practice on 4m? Am I ok with replacing front as a pair ( I have prev done this with Quattro tyres)? Any probs with changing tyre types ( currently has Michelin primacy 4 but would look to michelin cross climates next time)
Cheers

Strange. Mine wear equally front to rear, side to side. Varying by less than 0.5mm. Running 235x55x17 Cross Climate at 44psi all round.

 

[briwy]

Just be aware of the inadvisability of running 'best' tyres on the front of any vehicle - usually okay but when lightly loaded on the back and you lift off suddenly or brake you may trigger oversteer, even on an AWD.

Hence the tyre manufacturers all advise swapping tyres round so that the newest are on the back.

I've never understood the reasoning behind this especially on a front wheel drive. All the drive (obviously not on 4wd) all the steering and most of the braking is on the front wheels so for me the best tyres go on the front. Its easier IMO to get out of oversteer than understeer.

 

[Velma's Dad]

I've never understood the reasoning behind this especially on a front wheel drive. All the drive (obviously not on 4wd) all the steering and most of the braking is on the front wheels so for me the best tyres go on the front. Its easier IMO to get out of oversteer than understeer.

It's the last bit that the tyre makers certainly wouldn't agree with you on. For the average driver understeer is considered a much 'safer' bias than oversteer.

 

[Chunkymunky]

Strange. Mine wear equally front to rear, side to side. Varying by less than 0.5mm. Running 235x55x17 Cross Climate at 44psi all round.

I know the vehicle history and I know all four tyres were replaced about 7-8k ago before him, another mate and I took it on a cross Europe trip. He did use it as a daily driver though until I got it 2k ago. He ran it at max loading pressure- as do I. Yes 235x55x17 tyres.
I had it serviced in July and the mechanic highlighted outer wear on the fronts and suggested it had perhaps been “hard driven into corners” - I know it hadn’t by me and my mate tended to pootle about in it rather than hammer it. I reckon there will be an advisory on its mot or perhaps a fail in early oct but I’ll be looking for new rubber anyway as I am ( hopefully) heading to France again. The rears are great though- will certainly swap again
Realistically I’d have preferred to replace all four at once ( apart from the cost obviously !)
The puncture repair in calais last month is pushing me to change too- I don’t really like them but it was convenient at the time and my GCSE French didn’t extend to haggling over buying new tyres !
My wife’s q5 Quattro went through fronts before rears too...but she doesn’t drive the van so I can’t blame her!
I was Looking at something better than the primacy in the wet- I do a lot of driving in France and find the autoroutes bad for aquaplaning

 

[Chunkymunky]

I've never understood the reasoning behind this especially on a front wheel drive. All the drive (obviously not on 4wd) all the steering and most of the braking is on the front wheels so for me the best tyres go on the front. Its easier IMO to get out of oversteer than understeer.

That was what I’d always understood - best to front but as this has prompted me to do some more research swapping certainly makes sense - I also have limited experience with 4wd vehicles!

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Front generally wears quicker, but best to rotate every now and again & have deeper treads on the back. It’s better to lose traction on the front than the back, If you lose the back end in the wet it can send the car into a spin.

 

[WelshGas]

I could be wrong but I gather the tread depth should be no greater than 3 mm between individual tyres or damage can be done to the Haldex 4Motion system.

 

[Wesel]

I could be wrong but I gather the tread depth should be no greater than 3 mm between individual tyres or damage can be done to the Haldex 4Motion system.

And this is the reason why it is best to reverse the front and rear tires annually to have even wear. So we change the 4 tires at the same time.

 

[Wesel]

Hi all
Checking tyres before MOT and note while all still legal , there is excessive wear on outside of fronts compared to rear- fronts are running much lower than rears that have loads of meat on them - all were replaced as set by prev owner
I’ve checked previous threads and am aware that this isn’t an uncommon issue ( but still fail to fully understand why)-however would seek some advice over tyre replacement-
I had a puncture replaced last month in France to the front and so am keen to get new anyway rather than swap front to back but what is best practice on 4m? Am I ok with replacing front as a pair ( I have prev done this with Quattro tyres)? Any probs with changing tyre types ( currently has Michelin primacy 4 but would look to michelin cross climates next time)
Cheers

On my 4motion the front tires don't wear out any faster than the rear tires.
The difference is not great.

 

[Chunkymunky]

I wonder if the 4m system is the same as Audi Quattro? I’ve certainly experienced probably the same level of comparitive wear front v rear on the wife’s q5 as the Cali - and have had the Audi since new.
If I hadn’t had the puncture repaired ( saying that it’s done five hundred miles....) I’d risk swapping the front onto the back and watch them even out. I’ll see how it goes through it’s MOT- but I’m now reassured about getting two new only- I will certainly swap to rear in future and thanks for bringing that to my attention

 

[WelshGas]

Despite checking tread depth regularly I’ve never had to swop tyres as the wear difference is insignificant.

 

[briwy]

Front generally wears quicker, but best to rotate every now and again & have deeper treads on the back. It’s better to lose traction on the front than the back, If you lose the back end in the wet it can send the car into a spin.

Sorry can't agree. You lose the rear you at least have a chance to catch it. You lose the front and you're fairly certain to end up in the ditch.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Sorry can't agree. You lose the rear you at least have a chance to catch it. You lose the front and you're fairly certain to end up in the ditch.

Ending up a ditch is far better than hitting the oncoming car sideways on, especially on a 60mph A-Road.

 

[Velma's Dad]

I could be wrong but I gather the tread depth should be no greater than 3 mm between individual tyres or damage can be done to the Haldex 4Motion system.

That's true for other AWD systems so I would well imagine it's the case on the 4-Mo Haldex, yes.

 

[GSX1300R]

After changing over my wheels recently back to the originals I put the ones with the deeper tread on the front these originally came off the back..I try and get the tyre wear so that when they ALL need replacing at the same time..Nothing worse than having different tyres front and back which can happen if tyres become obsolete or just plain hard to find...

 

[GSX1300R]

Ending up a ditch is far better than hitting the oncoming car sideways on, especially on a 60mph A-Road.

I’ve had tyres blow out on the front and back of both cars and bikes and I can tell you which one is the most unpleasant...You definitely need your brown cords on when a front tyre goes..

 

[Velma's Dad]

Sorry can't agree. You lose the rear you at least have a chance to catch it. You lose the front and you're fairly certain to end up in the ditch.

Correcting understeer is instinctive even for inexperienced drivers, ie you lift off (or even brake) and the front turns in, usually fairly progressively. Correcting oversteer (especially trailing throttle oversteer) is much more challenging and non-intuitive for a driver of average skill. That has been a basic assumption/principle of car design since around the 1960s.

 

[andyinluton]

As long as you've got a reasonable amount of tread on all the tyres it isn't going to make any difference which end are best assuming they are all the same type.

The only time the actual depth of tread makes any difference is in the wet as it affects the capacity of the tyre to cut through the water, in that situation I would rather have the grip on the steering wheels, the fronts then actually dry a path through the water & the rears have less to deal with.

Despite my best efforts I have never managed to get the cali sideways in any situation other than on ice, even when trying deliberately unlike, all the other cars we own.

 

[X4 VWC]

4Motion 2016 plate, my fronts wear twice as fast as the rears, usually on outer edges. Tyre centre say they see this regularly with T6s and bigger Land Rovers. I typically get 12k from fronts, and 22-24k from rears. I don't rotate them, just replace as they wear. When running Audi Quattro, I used to rotate to ensure even wear as others have mentioned - never felt the need on the van.