alistair

I have personal experience of this & will never make the same mistake again.

I had a blowout, so thought I'd do the sensible thing & replace both tyres and not just one.

All they tyres were Bridgestone, but the newer ones were a different model/tread pattern. I thought the front's would take more hammer & thought I was a pretty good driver, so the new ones went on the front.

A few weeks later, I went on a driving course - "The Wetter the Better" - run by a guy called Don Palmer at MIRA on the wet handling circuit. Also there was Simon De Banke (former webmaster) and not too shabby behind the wheel either.

Don took 3 of us on a demo lap in my car - after the first bend, he asked what I'd done to the car as it was almost un-drivable. I spent most of the day spinning.

It was so bad that Don offered me a significant discount on a subsequent day once I'd got new tyres. When I went back it was a complete revelation - the car was completely different.

I'd not had a problem on the roads, but it made me realise that when conditions change & you exceed the limit, the cars handling is changed significantly.

We're not talking about making the car a little bit more oversteery - nice and controllable drifting, we're talking about the back end just snapping round. The whole handling balance of the car was gone.

Don is a driving god - one of the best instructors I've had the priveledge to learn from and he struggled - I had absolutely no chance.

Halfway through the day Don made me change the tyres around - the car understeered massively, but we all agreed it was the safest thing to do for the drive home.

Since then, I have never, ever mixed tyres - you really never know when you're going to overcook things - and you want your car to handle the way the manufacturer intended it.

r32

I'm so sorry, I had a senior moment when I put my earlier reply on. I should have said the new tyres go on the rear not the front. My sincere apologies.
Our company dealt with Michelin and Goodyear and their experts were unequivocal that they should always go on the rear.

F1 CJE UK

iTrader: (8)

Always on the front, fwd cars put very little load on the rears all the load is on the front.

Look at btcc cars they are setup to be loose at the rear, in the past when the fwd cars pit they only ever change the front.

F1 CJE UK

iTrader: (8)

Just to add that's for best performance. New cars are setup for under steer as that's "safe" . All the web sites are working on the fact you don't know how to drive!

alistair

Here we go again - just like the winter tyres debate - unless you've actually tired it - in a safe environment - and really know what your talking about, it's best to keep quiet as you're just offering a dangerous opinion.

If the tyres are identical, but with slightly less tread, then you can make an argument for putting them on the rear - anything else is plain stupid. You might get away with it, but that doesn't make it right.

This place seems to be full if driving superhero's these days - I don't know why anyone bothers with tread on their tyres any more......

alistair

Exactly - they are SET UP for oversteer - they don't just put crap tyres on the back and hope for the best.

No-one is disputing that the fronts wear quicker - probably twice as fast - but what a BTTC team do on the track is hardly a great example of what to do for the roads.