Welcome to the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club Thursday March 28, 2024
Home Forums Images WikiNASIOC Products Store Modifications Upgrade Garage
NASIOC
Go Back   NASIOC > NASIOC Technical > Service & Maintenance

Welcome to NASIOC - The world's largest online community for Subaru enthusiasts!
Welcome to the NASIOC.com Subaru forum.

You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our community, free of charge, you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is free, fast and simple, so please join our community today!

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.







* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads. 
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-19-2005, 06:29 PM   #1
jetfan2207
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 61950
Join Date: May 2004
Chapter/Region: Tri-State
Location: Northern NJ
Vehicle:
2008 Outback
big blue wagon

Have a Nice Day? Best tires to the front?

I just picked up my OBS for it's 30K mile service. I have a slightly newer tire on the front when I brought it in. I use that tire to prove the actaully rotated the tire, and not just charged me for it. I was in a rush, so I didn't look if they did or didn't rotate it (Plus I've never had a problem there before). I get home and sure enough the newer tire was still in the front. I went into the house and called the dealer back up, and asked to speak to the GM which they said there is no GM, but the guy offered to help me. I ask him if a tire rotation is included in the 30K mile service, which he replies, yes; then I tell him, I just picked my car up and the tires were not rotated. He then tells me that the only time they do not rotate the tires is if the better ones are in the front already and how the car is FWD bias. I believe him and thank him. Is it true that the better tires should go in front regardless if they are in need of rotation?

CN- Tires were not rotated at 30K mile service. called the dealer back, person who answers the phone tells me the better tires (ones with more tread) should always go in the front no matter if they are in need of rotation. Is this right?

Thanks in advance,
Steve
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.
jetfan2207 is offline   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.
Old 05-19-2005, 08:21 PM   #2
Uncle Scotty
*** Banned ***
 
Member#: 16200
Join Date: Mar 2002
Vehicle:
OK buy Nates beans
westcoastroasting.com

Default

Fronts will wear faster.....makes overall wear more even.
Uncle Scotty is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-19-2005, 10:26 PM   #3
Stanley
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 7374
Join Date: Jun 2001
Chapter/Region: BAIC
Location: Gold Country
Vehicle:
2023 MAGA Hat Model3
grey, or is it gray?

Default

The point of tire rotation is to keep the wear even. Front tires wear faster in normal driving.

If you want to check a service station's work, you might consider marking a tire. It seems if you went through the trouble of putting a different tire on, you might as well rotate them yourself! I did this with oil filters on an old honda for which I used a Jiffy-Lube place. I'd take a sharpie and mark the filter. Of the dozen or so oil changes I had done, they only failed to change the filter once.

Last edited by Stanley; 05-19-2005 at 10:31 PM.
Stanley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-19-2005, 11:41 PM   #4
Mike Wevrick
RIP 1/19/64 - 7/23/11
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 24654
Join Date: Sep 2002
Chapter/Region: NESIC
Location: saraseager.com
Vehicle:
1957 Taggart Comet
atlasshruggedpart1.com

Default

It depends. For evening out tire wear, yes, you should leave the better tires on the front. They should take the rotation charge off your bill thouggh.

But for emergency handling its better to have the better tires in the back, especially if there is big difference in wear. Let's say you have to make an emergency lane change in the rain because someone cut you off. If you suddenly lift the throttle, the weight will transfer to the front tires. If the rears are more worn out, they will lose traction much more easily. When you yank the wheel, whee! 180 time. If the fronts are more worn the car may slide but its less likely to spin.
Mike Wevrick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2005, 12:57 AM   #5
Pakin
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 17315
Join Date: Apr 2002
Chapter/Region: International
Location: Date Line Denies F-22s
Vehicle:
MY95 Impreza 207C
MY05 Forester 257X

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Wevrick
It depends. For evening out tire wear, yes, you should leave the better tires on the front. They should take the rotation charge off your bill thouggh.

But for emergency handling its better to have the better tires in the back, especially if there is big difference in wear. Let's say you have to make an emergency lane change in the rain because someone cut you off. If you suddenly lift the throttle, the weight will transfer to the front tires. If the rears are more worn out, they will lose traction much more easily. When you yank the wheel, whee! 180 time. If the fronts are more worn the car may slide but its less likely to spin.
But wouldn't that also apply to the front tires as well?

I have always thought that the front tires should be kept at an optimal thread depth since if a blow out occurs in one of the front tires, the car will suddenly veer to that direction. To a conventional, unattentive, normal driver in the U.S., that would certainly mean trouble if they don't react quickly enought towards the situation. If it were the rear tires that blew, then behavior of the vehicle probably won't be as drastic.

-paK +2
Pakin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2005, 01:05 AM   #6
kickitjp
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 60035
Join Date: Apr 2004
Chapter/Region: PRSIC
Default

I thought it was 60/40 AWD bias to the fronts, so better tread would be up there...
kickitjp is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2005, 01:28 AM   #7
Pakin
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 17315
Join Date: Apr 2002
Chapter/Region: International
Location: Date Line Denies F-22s
Vehicle:
MY95 Impreza 207C
MY05 Forester 257X

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by kickitjp
I thought it was 60/40 AWD bias to the fronts, so better tread would be up there...
It's 50/50 for the 5MT, and depending on what year 4EAT may be a 90/10 like the older units or a more rear bias on newer VTD equipped.

The front tires do more work than the rear. They accept more load in terms of supporting weight and under braking loads as well as steering, etc.

-paK +2
Pakin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2005, 01:17 PM   #8
JimBlake
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 82247
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: NE Ohio
Vehicle:
2005 Saab 9.2x Aero
satin grey

Default

Better ones on the front because they'll wear faster.
Better ones on the rear to prevent the instability that Mike Wevrick described.
Guess what? THEY'RE BOTH RIGHT!

Keep up with the rotation so your tires never get worn too much different from each other. Once you screw that up, you gotta put the good ones on the back until you can throw the worn ones out & get back to proper rotation.

The spinout risk is obviously more important in the snow, but rainy highways can do it too.
JimBlake is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2005, 05:29 PM   #9
Stanley
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 7374
Join Date: Jun 2001
Chapter/Region: BAIC
Location: Gold Country
Vehicle:
2023 MAGA Hat Model3
grey, or is it gray?

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by JimBlake
Keep up with the rotation so your tires never get worn too much different from each other.
WINN4R!
Stanley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2005, 11:17 PM   #10
Mike Wevrick
RIP 1/19/64 - 7/23/11
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 24654
Join Date: Sep 2002
Chapter/Region: NESIC
Location: saraseager.com
Vehicle:
1957 Taggart Comet
atlasshruggedpart1.com

Default

^^agreed; best bet is to keep them as equal as possible.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pakin
But wouldn't that also apply to the front tires as well?



-paK +2
Transferring weight to the front (eg by suddenly lifting the throttle) makes the rear tires more likely to lose traction (since there is less weight on them). If the rears are also more worn you are much more likely to spin out than if the fronts are more worn.

(I have seen people run fwd cars in the winter with snow tires on the front wheels only and all-seasons on the back. This is great for traction but god help you in an emergency manouver)
Mike Wevrick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-24-2005, 12:35 PM   #11
craigmp50
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 33791
Join Date: Mar 2003
Chapter/Region: Tri-State
Location: Buffalo NY
Vehicle:
2009 WRX
Lightning Red

Default

Rotation is fine, BUT, where would you choose to have a blow out if a tire failed?

Front or rear?
craigmp50 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-24-2005, 02:47 PM   #12
JimBlake
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 82247
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: NE Ohio
Vehicle:
2005 Saab 9.2x Aero
satin grey

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pakin
... If it were the rear tires that blew, then behavior of the vehicle probably won't be as drastic.
What's more drastic, severe understeer or a sudden spin?

Quote:
Originally Posted by craigmp50
... where would you choose to have a blow out if a tire failed?
Are we talking about tires that are worn so thin that they are the cause of a blowout?

If not, my guess is the tire to blow out is just dumb luck depending on which one hits the rusty old muffler that you didn't see in the road. In fact, it'll probably be the front anyway.

And I thought we were talking about one end losing traction from hydroplaning or snow...
JimBlake is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-24-2005, 04:24 PM   #13
eltrouble
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 79493
Join Date: Jan 2005
Chapter/Region: SCIC
Location: Cerritos, CA
Vehicle:
2003 WRB WRX Wagon
5 doors > 4 doors

Default

rotate tires whenever they start showing wear from tire conicity...makes sense right? attempt to keep the tires within 2/32" of tread life with all of them.

and when i balance my tires i try to place the ones with the least RFV in the front.
eltrouble is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
What have you guys found to be the best tires for the so cal area? Hawk55 Southern California Impreza Club Forum -- SCIC 34 12-19-2008 01:45 AM
So how bad is it really to have 2 different types of tires on the front and rear? 0260B4U Tire & Wheel 4 10-01-2008 12:09 AM
Whats the best tire to buy for the stock 16" rims? nottheliving Newbies & FAQs 18 10-20-2004 12:40 AM
The best place to get front and rear KAAZ LSD's(price wise)????? Rallyspec Transmission (AT/MT) & Driveline 18 09-28-2001 01:52 PM
Best tires for the SVX 1994subarusvx SVX Forum Archive 8 01-13-2001 09:51 PM

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:28 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2024 Axivo Inc.
Copyright ©1999 - 2019, North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club, Inc.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission
Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.