Road hazard for tires is not covered by Toyota.

Some myths are hard to break.
The vehicle is even harder to control if the FRONT is "all over the place" due to loss of traction.
I wonder if Snopes has any thing to say on this subject ??
(Nope, nothing there that I can see.)

If you have a link to any studies or trustworthy data, please post it.

 

I've seen the youtube video showing the difference, however it was on a older vehicle without stability control. Wonder if that makes a difference. But if you end of hydroplaning on a wet road, it won't matter which end has better tread, and stability control loses effectiveness.

 

Newer tires do need to go on the back of all cars. It is safer that way.

 

Please provide an authoritative reference for that opinion.
"Joe the tire changer" at the local tire store does NOT qualify.

[edit]
OK, I give up. I did some research and seemingly EVERYBODY subscribes to this belief.
All I will say is just try and use some common sense and if the old set is BADLY worn, please consider putting the new ones on the front.

While the hydro-planning demo's are impressive, a blowout in the front is more devastating and a front tire with virtually NO TREAD isn't going to be able to recover from much of anything.......even on dry pavement.

 

Badly worn tires? No tread? At risk of blowout?

In my perpetually wet and traction-challenged climate, I wouldn't drive with those tires on any corner of the car.

I have been driving only two-thirds as many years as you, but have witnessed numerous drivers lock their brakes and spin around, hitting barricades or sliding off the road tail first. Having the best traction in front works when the car is tracking perfectly straight, but this is an unstable balance. The slightest corner, evasion maneuver, or traction asymmetry will upset the balance, rapidly leading to a spin.

While modern ABS / EBD / VSC reduce this risk, they can't perform magic with bad tread. Expert drivers may do well at keeping the car under control, but liability forces the tire shops to accommodate drivers with average and significantly lower skills. Those drivers won't handle skids and spins well, or at all, so they need their best traction at the rear corners.

If you don't like it, and have better drivings skills, then you are free to reposition the tires to your own liking.

 

I've got to say in my own mind, all power developed at front wheels and more than 50% of braking done at front wheels, and steering controlled at front wheels - put new tires on front wheels. But thats just me....

Only way I can see that not making sense is that perhaps in a sharp turn at entry the new tires get you overconfident at entry speed, and once the rear needs to start taking that curve it breaks loose?

Chris

 

Thank you, I will.....and I don't need anybody's permission to do so.

I suspect that few people have driven a car with a posi-trac rearend. I have and on ice it PUSHES the front end around like crazy and that situation is virtually impossible to recover from once the sliding starts.

I think that a similar situation will exist when the front end hydro-planes. When your front tires lose traction you can't do jack s***.

And finally, watch a few Nascar races. When a rear goes down they wiggle a bit and maybe spin, often pretty much in a straight line. If a FRONT goes down, however, it is BAM straight into the wall.

And those drivers in the demonstrations KNOW what is about to happen. That HAS to have some impact on their reactions. IF they are professional drivers, they are piss poor ones.

Done. I realize that my opinion differs from virtually everyone else in the world and I don't mind that. I will put a ***LOT*** more stock in anybody else's opinion if they have ever been in a situation where they lost traction on the front wheels.....and lived to tell about it.

 

I have witnessed more than enough cars spin around on perfectly straight road sections to not believe that a sharp turn is required. In hard braking, the nose-forward orientation is not stable, so any tiny disturbance is quickly magnified.

Maybe dry roads require a sharp turn. But here in the Pacific NorthWet, I'm preparing for foul road conditions, not dry pavement. ABS / EBD / VSC do reduce the risk. But I don't believe these can perform true miracles, they do require actual traction.

 

Well all I can say is that at least I'm only pwering 1 axle now.... In my Legacy GT one bad tire could mean a set of 4 new tires, or one new one and paying to shave it to match the others (due to the AWD).

Good times, I actually got to pay once to have tread removed from a brand new tire to match my year old ones due to a sidewall puncture, it broke my heart...