Where Should You Put New Tyres on Your Car? A Complete Guide
After your car tyres wear out, you may think it’s as simple as setting off with new tyres on the axle. On the other hand, there’s actually a sensible reason for where you put your new tyres. You’ll boost safety and improve the way your car handles the road, as well as better protect your tyres. Lots of drivers in the UK end up paying too much for faulty tyres because they don’t understand how to replace them. We’ll look into why where you place your Car Tyres Smethwick is important and how to ensure you’re doing it correctly.
Understanding Your Car’s Drive System
It’s important to learn how your car functions before you start positioning your tyres. Most UK cars have either front- or rear-wheel drive systems. This means where to put on your new tyres, affecting how well your vehicle can get power to the road.
Car power and steering come from the front wheels in front-wheel drive vehicles. As a result, most of the effort in driving the car, accelerating, braking and steering is carried out by the front tyres. Because they are used more, the tyres on the front of these cars don’t last as long.
The back wheels in these vehicles drive, while the front wheels steer the car. While the rearmost wheels drive the car in these vehicles, the front tyres steer the car’s course.
Because all-wheel drives use all four wheels, the wear on the tyres is usually balanced around the entire vehicle.
The Common Myth About New Tyres
For the majority, tyre rotation often involves swapping the front for the new ones. Makes sense – when driving, it’s the front wheels that turn the car, so they need the most grip. Yet, sometimes this way of thinking is dangerous.
The belief may have come about because front-wheel drive cars see their front tyres worn away first. It’s quite natural to think of renewing the worn ones first. But tyre experts and safety organisations have found that it is not always the safest option.
The Real Rule: New Tyres on the Driving Axle
The correct method is to put new tyres on whichever axle drives the greatest power to the wheels of the car – called the driving axle. This axle is not always the one which steers the car but is the one where the wheels are pushing or pulling the vehicle forward.
The driving axle in a front-wheel drive is at the front and rear-wheel drives will have it at the back. This method assures that the wheels doing most of the work have the best chance to cling.
And here is why that counts: An excellent grip is used by the driving wheels for a safe acceleration, especially in wet or slippery situations. New tyres will have deeper grooves that allow more water to be displaced and this further allows a better grip on various road surfaces.
Moving Your Best Old Tyres
Once the tyres needing replacement are identified, you can proceed to place the remaining tyres for the best performance. Move the best of your old tyres to the non-driving axle.
This is because the non-driving wheels have a less demanding job to do. They do not need to transfer power to the road and therefore can manage with slightly less grip than that would be needed by the driving wheels.
Should two tyres require changing in a front-wheel drive car, you’d replace the front tyres with the new ones and transfer the best of the old tyres to the back.
Here, safety is improved by helping the wheels at the front maintain maximum grip, with enough traction also remaining on the rear wheels.
Important Considerations for Different Driving Conditions
The UK weather can be particularly demanding on tyres. The amount of rain, occasional snow, and changeable temperatures means that we’re reliant on good grip all year.
In wet conditions, driving wheels need good tread depth for channelling water away to maintain good contact with the road surface. That is why new tyres should always be fitted on the drive axle. Driving safety is even more important in poor weather such as rain, which is so common in the UK.
For motorists regularly meeting snow or ice, it may be worth considering winter or all-season tyres, which have special rubber compounds and tread patterns designed for cold conditions.
When to Replace All Four Tyres
It’s sometimes wise to get a full set of new tyres, even though only half your set is worn out. If your tyres are getting close to replacement or if your car has all-wheel drive and needs same-depth treads front to back, this might be a smart move.
When a car’s tyres have large differences in tread depth, it can damage the all-wheel drive system. Find out which requirements apply to your model by referring to the car’s handbook.
The Takeaway
Properly configuring your Car Tyres Smethwick maximizes your protection and improves performance. By repositioning the tyres so your best tyres go on the axle uprights and the best old tyres on the lower areas, you improve your grip on the steering part. When contemplating replacement of every tyre, you must also mitigate any wheel misalignment issues that may be the cause of recent accelerated wear on any particular tyre. If you are uncertain of the best steps to take next, let a professional evaluate your vehicle, and advise you of the best approach for your driving requirements.