as opposed to locking your brakes and rearending someone (eh willy) or understeering off a corner because the fronts are bald?

all 4 at a time please

most importantly in the perfect world all tires should be the same, but realisticly if u hve 2 good and 2 med, the 2 good go front, when i bought my car the good were on the rear and bad on the front and i got understeer quite often!

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Hi-Ho Silver LS1275
Charlieeeeeeeee Come to Candy Mountain!

The best tyres should always go on the driven wheels. So a Mini, ya put the better ones on the front.

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It was a long time ago...but I once put brand new crossplies on the rear and planned to get new fronts the following week.....the car was nearly undriveable very uncomfortable feeling having the rears steering the fronts

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"Show me the Mini!"

Trust me, on a Mini the good tyres go on the rear.

When you have 4 good tyres rotate them front to rear regularly to keep them all wearing at the same rate.

well the poll certainly clarifies things but the discission makes things muddier...

The question is, are most people oblivious to what is right (ie good tyres on rear) or are the minority of people with the best tyres on the rear wrong

Sounds like it comes down to personal preference and depends on how hard you drive the car. I know that I have done a 180 on a dry stretch of road thru the royal national park. Would have been a worry in the wet. Maybe that experience in itelf should have convinced me that the best tyres should be on the back. I would have thought doing this would lead to more understeer?

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Andrew
1973 Leyland Mini
1989 Mitsubishi Pajero
2014 Ford Focus

I always put new tyres on the rear of front wheel drives. For the simple reason of preventing aquaplaning. More tread depth = more grip in the wet. If you think how weight transfers during braking, add steering, bald tyres on the rear is an oversteer mess in the event of an incident. At least with bald tyres on the front all that will happen is understeer which is a lot more controllable. - and if that occurs in the rain you need to reassess the speed you're going!

What some people seem to forget is the car is only as good as the worst two tyres , not the best two.

It is only going to stop as good as the worst two tyres will let it.
It is only going to corner as good as the worst two tyres will let it.

I notice that the blokes that have been around minis for a long time are voting one way and the young guns are voting the other way.

for all those people claiming to put the tyres on the back consider this, over 80% of braking on a mini is done by the front wheels and by placing the old tyres on the front you are not only reducing your braking in the wet by a dangerous amount you are also reducing traction for drive and steering. As for this claim that the rear wheels will cause the car to spin that is crap, it will only happen if you do not drive to the conditions and as for the claim its safer if you have more grip on the back what planet have you people been living on ( Marvin Excepted) a car with faulty braking and steering is a hell of a lot more dangerous than a car with less rear grip, fact when you consider which end does the most work

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

Feralsprint, I guess it comes down to how you want your car to handle on bald tyres. Oversteer or understeer.

I prefer them on the back as I prefer to slide rather than spin in an accident. As for bald tyres on the front, you slow down heaps earlier for corners, do all your braking in a straight line etc etc. Basically don't drive like a tool.

Either way, if your at fault in an accident with bald tyres either end, your insurance probably won't pay...

Sorry Jon, I stand by my comment. It has nothing to do with the driven end - all about which way you will go when things come unstuck.

When we were motorkhanaing I used to use my good 165s at the front and old bald 145s at the back - pumped up to 50psi....for exactly the reason you don't want it to happen on the road.

Cheers, Ian

PS when are we going to get a look at the plastic fantastic....

I used to do the same thing for the same reason. You just turn in, back off and the bum swings around! No need for the handbrake.

If you dont have steering you can never avoid the accident and with the good tryes on the back the accident is going to happen a lot sooner, if you can brake steer and get drive and on the front you are a hell of a lot safer than your way specially if as you say you brake early but sometimes you dont get to pick the time you have to brake, what if as happens someone pulls out in front of you, your way you jit them because you cant brake and steer, let me ask why do racing minis always have there best tyres on the front even to the extent on sports sedans to having much larger wheels and tyres on the front,its not rocket science

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

Because they are racing. They don't have to do emergency stops on blind corners, they don't have kids running out on the street in front of them, they don't have to worry about cars suddenly stopping in front of them, they only have to come to a complete stop once during a race and that is to take the start. You cannot compare racing to driving on the road.

Thats probably why you couldnt beat my standard 145s all around running 28 and 26 front and rear and it doesnt happen on the road unless you are being silly, you want to tell me about set up, why do race minis set the front up to improve turn and grip in turns

35 years of playing with these things and I am still playing with them, and I am still playing and learning, i was at Wakefield on Monday for the Super Minis doing my thing still learning from the best

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