There seems to be a bit of discussion about whether the best two tyres should be on the front or the back. If you buy your tyres four at a time this is probably not a concern but i would suggest a decent proportion of us buy our tyres two at a time.

I have always been taught that the best two tyres should be placed on the front as steering and breaking are the most important aspects of motoring...

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Andrew
1973 Leyland Mini
1989 Mitsubishi Pajero
2014 Ford Focus

i would deffantly the front

but then agian in normally by my tyres in 4's

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Current Ride : Toyota Trueno AE86

mini parts for sale http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=42247

I think it depends on who you are as a driver and how comfortable you are handling a car at the limit.

Driving around with good tires on the front could be fun and give you a lot of smile inducing oversteer, the same can be said that it's not exactly what you want in an emergency or greasy wet conditions.

Also the degree of difference between the quality of tyres plays a part.

I'm am pretty certain that i want all my tires to feel the same on the limit and not have different characteristics...c'mon they are the only thing keeping you in contact with the road.

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Starlet Conversion:
http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15484

On Minis and many other FWD cars one will notice that the front tyres wear out way before the rears, so you will find that they will need replacing more often than the rears. But that does not mean one can ignore the condition of the back tyres as they never wear out. Just think of the saftey aspect or if you are involved in the unexpected crunch and it is your fault with worn tyres front or rear. The insurance companies don't like that at all. Another thing that is very important on Minis is Wheel alignment as this plays a big part in uneven and premature tyre wear.

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DID I MENTION THAT I AM THE BEST SUPPLIER FOR MINI ELECTRICAL PARTS AND REPAIRS?
"Let us remove your "SHORTS"

Doesn't anyone rotate their tyres?

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Starlet Conversion:
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^^ agreed...

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What left and right? Put the good ones on the left and only turn right.

How about four good ones, thats seems to be a novel concept for some people on this forum.

A mini doesn't work the same as a rear wheel drive car , with rear wheel drive when the rear tyres wear down you get two new ones , put them on the front and the ones from the front onto the back , rear wheel drive the backs normally wear first (depending on how you drive off course) . With a mini the fronts have to transfer the power to the road as well as braking and steering , the backs keep the rest straight so still need to be good . Personally if I had to choose I would have new tyres on the front and good tyres on the back , in my road mini's I used to go through two sets of front's to one set of rears but they always got driven hard . Also , if you want to see how much work your rear tyres do (go somewhere safe) and stick a couple of old crossplies on the back and your usual tyres on the front . I tried to drive into work several years ago like it with my mags on the back seat to drop off for straightening/new tyres , I thought I could drive carefully for a couple of days like it ..... The drift boys have nothing on the way the mini handled even in a straight line it was trying to weave over the road following the camber or bumps , corners were oposite lock and foot to the floor to try and get the back to follow the front again ....

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The best tyres ALLWAYS go on the back. You may find in some states this is alegal requirement. Once upon a time when people actually mixed radials and crossplies the crossplies went on the front. Logic being that acidents are best had front on rather than sideways or backwards.

With a Mini you wear out the fronts, swap the older (and harder) rears to the front and so one. Of course you get the same effect by rotating tyres but then you have to shell out for 4 when they all eventually wear out at the same time.

Cheers, Ian

i rotate my tyres once every 2 months, and always buy them in sets of 4. i rotate them often because im trying to wear them all down evenly and i try to stop myself pushing them all the time, but its my mini that makes me take corners hard. i think morris wants a new pair of boots anyway

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real men race downhill - keiichi tsuchiya

Agreed. I had some Yokie A539's (12") on the front, and some good (bad) ol' Kumho Power Stars (10") on the back. Geez, that was scary. But fun I pulled a handbrake turn and it just about did a piruette on its nose. Fun!

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Cheap, Fast, Reliable. Choose two.

Get it right Ian it states that the better tyres go on the driven wheels, in the case of a mini it is the front wheels.

Jon

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Roundies and Clubbies(except vans) are both ugly that is why I have Midas and a van
1293 Mini Midas Bronze,1275 Clubman van

Put new ones all round then when you want to have some fun drive the back wheels onto plastic mcdonalds trays and pull the hand brake on. Find an expanse of road. Big empty car parks are the best and go crazy.

don't encourage people to do stupid things

neway, all four at once.
if i had to do only two i'd put them on the front, the front wheels have to steer, accelerate and brake. the rears do sfa.

NO NO!!! not the fronts!!!

If you have mismatching tyres, first of all it's a No No. Slap yourself on the hand now.

But if you have to have it like that then provided the bad ones are not bald then put the good ones on the back. If not in the rain you will do a 360 going too fast into corners cause the back will have less grip going around the corner, hence bad idea. Minis handle and ride on their rear tyres...

Trust me! I've done a 360 on the freeway because of this. After changing them to the backs being better tyres the car was much more stable in the rear end in all conditions. Now I just have all 4 new Yoko A008

Generally it is a bad idea, but it's worste if your fronts are more grippy than your backs IMO! You are asking for the backs to swing out and generally be very unstable...

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K