Should New Tires Be Installed on the Front or Rear?
1 Answers
Deciding which axle to install new tires on depends on various factors, as tire manufacturers have different recommendations. The choice should be based on your specific vehicle. Below are the relevant details: 1. Kumho Tires: The official website recommends installing the better tires on the front axle, which aligns with the mainstream opinion among most car enthusiasts online. The reason is that most family cars are front-wheel-drive structures. 2. Michelin: The official website suggests installing new tires on the rear axle, as new tires offer better wet-road grip compared to old ones. Additionally, installing new tires on the rear axle reduces the risk of the vehicle fishtailing on slippery roads. 3. The driving environment determines the installation axle: (1) Most mainstream family vehicles use front-wheel-drive structures, where the front wheels handle both driving and steering and bear over 70% of the braking force. As a result, under normal conditions, the front tires wear out faster and are more prone to blowouts. A front tire blowout can severely affect steering, leading to loss of control and potential rollover accidents. Therefore, most people choose to install new tires on the front axle. (2) The main risk for rear tires is not blowouts but skidding and fishtailing. Loss of rear tire grip is a primary cause of oversteering, and heavily worn old tires are more likely to lose grip. This is why Michelin recommends installing new tires on the rear axle.
