Do most of you guys just get 2 new front tires instead of all 4?
 

i was curious and if not, tell me why?

I rotate mine often enough so they all 4 wear out at the same time.

If you rotate the tires as recommended, they should be replaced in sets not pairs.

Most people don't replace worn stock tires in pairs because 1) stock tires aren't good performance wise so nobody wants to pay for a new set and 2) running stickier/better performing tires on one axel and not on the other is going to give the car unpredictable handling characteristics, or 3) they actually rotated their tires as recommended.

If you've worn out the front tires, you CAN just replace the pair. However if you put summer tires up front and stock all seasons in back you may find your rear not getting good traction in tight turns. Depends on what tires you're currently running though. Stockers are not good for traction in any conditionss really so buying 2 new stocks is a waste of $$$ if you like performance.

Granted, after I lowered my RSX, I burned a through a pair of stock michelins in few months due to poor alignment, but after everything was set, all 4 tires were replaced.

yea you should rotate them, thatway they last longer and you just buy a set instead of just 2

i always replace all 4. however, if you're on a budget, and at least 2 of them have a decent amount of tread remaining, it's not the worst thing to replace just the pair that is more worn.

rule of thumb - stick with the same brand as the other two.

The best possible solution IMO is to rotate your tires often.
This reminds me, I'm actually due to rotate in a few weeks. :oh:

I replace all four, with an alignment immediately after the new tires are on the car

In front wheel drive cars it is recommended to have your two tires with the most traction mounted on the rear.

It's based on funds, if you only have money for 2 them get that if possible same brand. That's how I usually do it unless I have the funds for 4 tires. I never heard that b4 because your traction is up front so they should have the best traction, awd mainly front tires, you can have ok tread in rear. The front will do majority of the work. Now rwd is important to have 4 good tires, rear for traction & front for guiding vehicle.

that makes absolutely no sense. You want ones with the best traction on the front since those are the ones that are propelling the car AND steering the car.

I usually get all 4 replaced...my thought always comes out to be "If I'm buying these 2 now, I might as well buy all four, otherwise I'll have to buy 2 more in a few months for the rear tires!" :dunno: :)

This is true.

It's for stability during braking. Good tires on the front give you a false sense of security. Then the first time you hit the brakes in slippery weather you'll be backwards faster than you can react.

C rogue69 if you re read my response" I said the best 2 should be in the" front" on a fwd, awd front mainly(rear doesn't have to be the best) had one B4 & rwd you should have all 4 good tires".

Go ask ANY knowledgeable tire salesman. They will tell you exactly what I just said.

us poor college kids just replace whatever tires that need replacing with any brand that is affordable... hahaha i'm running on toyo up front and dunlops rear... No problem here, i just drive slow =)

That doesn't make sense to me either. All the steering and power is in the front as well as a majority of braking power, so why would you put the balder tires on the front? :confused:

Ever do a handbrake turn? Try recovering out of it WITHOUT releasing the rear brakes...

Man, you hear some pretty interesting things regarding tires. I've been in the tire business since I was 16, and I have come to learn a couple things being around them for so long.
If you can afford to always try to install a set of the same 4 tires, especially if you have ABS. And if you do proper rotations and dont burn rubber everytime you come to a stop your tires should never be more than 2/32 tread difference at time of rotation, so you shouldnt have to have bald tires on the front and good ones on the back or vise versa. If for some reason one pair is bald and the other is not, you should always have the most traction on the front if its a front wheel drive car. You can say what you want about handbrake turns, but you need to use your brakes under normal conditions several times more a night then messing around with e-brake turns or whatever. So It is much more logical to keep the traction where your accelleration power/ stopping power, and turning is. On the front.

Ever try making it through a 2" puddle at 60 with bald tires on the front?

There is no reason you should be doing e-brake turns when you know your tires are bald in the first place, or anywhere on the street for that matter.

Good post obsidian.

Want to get power to the ground? Best tires up front.

Want to stop sooner? Best tires up front.

As mentioned earlier, if you rotate your tires frequently, you shouldnt have this 2 or 4 tire issue. I replace all 4 at once, and theyre usually all 4 equally dogged.

....anyone ever see those fwd drag races with the obviously bigger tires that obviously have more traction in the front of the car? :rolleyes:

i'd say get all new four and rotate them when they should be done so you'll have nice new tires and you'll know when its time for new ones again

That's true, but I said that to help explain what would happen in a panic stop with the bad tires on the back. When you do a handbrake turn you EXPECT it to happen & your reaction times are better.

When you stop hard, the car's weight shifts towards the front, pressing the front wheels down & giving them better traction. The rears get un-weighted, & if you're going around a curve at the time, it'll oversteer badly - quickly, too. (Trailing-throttle oversteer.)

If the rear tires are close to the same condition as the front it's OK. If the rears are much worse, it happens earlier, more suddenly, & it's difficult to recover from this.

Any taildragger pilots out there? I think ground-loops would be a better example.

I understand where you are coming from now. You do have a very good point but I would rather go into oversteer than understeer any day and with the baldies on the front, an understeer is more likely to happen.