rotate-n-balance question

[NuYoRican00]

ok heres the deal:
i got 4 different tires on my car the size of them is 205/40/17 and i have had some problems with different tires so i now have a kuhmo, nankang, falken, ventus

now the nankang and the falken which are on the back are the oldest tires thus meaning the most worn out. the two on the front are only a few months old

last time i got a rotate and balance the guy told me not to rotate them cause they are all where they should be and that there would be no point in rotating tires with less tread to the front which made sense so i thought that was nice of him to be truthful now i went to a different place and told the guy just to balance and rotate the tires i asked him if i should rotate the tires even though the newest ones are already on the front he says you should always balance and rotate your tires at the same time because of tire wear and tear so they should be switched anyway he made it sound good so my question is do i really need to pay for a rotate???

i would just really like to know whos telling me the truth i would guess the first guy cause any other mechanic would have just taken the money and reguardless of whats better for your car they will do it anyway so they can make some cash. any thoughts would be cool. holla back ya'll

[Luke@tirerack]

always put the oldest most worn tires on the front of the car. It is the safest possible operating condition considering your situaion

[partyhardryan16]

it all depends on your drive train, front wheel drive or rear wheel?, if its a front wheel drive car u always want ur newest tires on the front, and when they seem to be getting around even or lower tread than the back tires you switch them

[Grant@Tirerack]

When replacing worn tires in pairs, it's safer to put the better tires on the rear of the car. The reason is simple, if you have more tread depth/better traction tires up front, the back end of the car will have more of a tendency to loose grip in wet conditions. This can lead to an extreme oversteer conditon that is very difficult to recover from. The back end of the car will be very loose and unstable. If the better tread tires are out back, the driver can respond quickly to wet conditions. They will feel when the front of the car is loosing grip faster and be able to respond faster. The back of the car (with the better traction) will remain firmly planted and it will be much more stable. This configuration makes the car much safer and easier to control.

[partyhardryan16]

I still think the better tires should be on the front if its a front wheel drive car... tires are spinning more in the front and need more tread to grip when they are spinning... if you have shitty tires in the front with little tread then how are they going to grip??? everytime i go to get my tires changed i have the new tires put in the front and i have been to atleast 5 different tire shops ... do what you want though

[Grant@Tirerack]

Here, check out this link:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...lnewtires.html

[OLD RACER]

Originally Posted by partyhardryan16

I still think the better tires should be on the front if its a front wheel drive car... tires are spinning more in the front and need more tread to grip when they are spinning... if you have shitty tires in the front with little tread then how are they going to grip??? everytime i go to get my tires changed i have the new tires put in the front and i have been to atleast 5 different tire shops ... do what you want though

IF IT IS FRONT WHEEL DRIVE, THE BEST RUBBER GOES ON THE FRONT. I CAN'T BELIEVE ANYONE THINKS THAT ON A CAR, WITH ALL OF THE ENGINE WEIGHT, ALL THE STEERING ACTION, ALL THE ACCELERATION AND UP TO 70% OF THE BRAKING SHOULD BE HANDLED BY THE WORST TIRES. EVEN ON A REAR WHEEL DRIVE CAR, WHICH TIRE WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE TO REACH A ROAD HAZARD FIRST,YOUR WORST TIRES? A FRONT TIRE BLOWOUT IS TWICE AS INTERESTING AS A REAR. AS FOR YOUR TIRES, CAN YOU TRY HARDER TO FIND GARBAGE TIRES? NANKANG? HAS ANYONE EVER SUCESSFULLY BALANCED A NANKANG? WHAT JUNK. SAME GOES FOR FALKEN AND ALL BUT THE TOP OF THE LINE KUHMOS. PUT LOUSY TIRES ON A FERRARI, AND YOU HAVE A TAURUS THAT SOUNDS GOOD.

[Grant@Tirerack]

I take it you didn't read the link?

[shizza52]

Hey i got a 99 accord with 18" rims. Which tire should i go with, the Kuhmo 711's or the Nankang NS-2. I'm not looking to street race or anything, just everday driving.

[Dsilver]

Listen to Grant!!! He is the man when it comes to Rims and Tires.