Topic: Question on tread depth and rotation

[kingbird72]

Installed winter tire on my STI today, prior to installing it I was checking the tread depth on all 4 tires, 2 of them have 11/32 and the other 2 have 12/32. I decided to put the 12/32 in the front, since the STI is rear wheel bias should the better tire go to the rear instead??

[Ambystom01]

I doubt it will make a difference.

[snackers]

You'll wear the fronts more just by turning on the bare roads than you will by spinning the "rear biased" wheels, which will even them out.
Leave it as is.
I agree with Amby.

[toytech]

Fronts do a lot of the braking too , so they will definitely wear faster.

[RockThePylon]

Unless you do donuts on dry pavement. That shreds the rears in a comical fashion.

[snackers]

Unless you do donuts on dry pavement. That shreds the rears in a comical fashion.

In that case, 1/32 difference is hardly your primary concern.

[RockThePylon]

In that case, 1/32 difference is hardly your primary concern.

Rotates sooooo much better with 1/32" less tread on the rear. More torque.

[VTAKLOL]

Your best tires (that is, the ones with the most tread) should always go on the rear.

[snackers]

Your best tires (that is, the ones with the most tread) should always go on the rear.

Great.
And since the OP is asking for help, what is the reasoning?
Others explained why they believe the opposite of you.

[Saul]

Great.
And since the OP is asking for help, what is the reasoning?
Others explained why they believe the opposite of you.

I agree with what others have stated above, leave as is.. not enough of a difference.

But reasoning is you always want the higher level of traction to your rear wheels for safety reasons.  It's more dangerous when you go into oversteer and typically results in total loss of vehicle control.  Now when I say you.. I don't really mean you.. I mean the typical average ittshay driver on the road.  Just sayin!

It's been said that when putting winter wheels on your vehicle, do all 4.  You want an equal level of traction accross all of your wheels.  But if you absolutely must only put 2 on, put them on the rear, regardless if your vehicle is FWD.  For the reason I've stated.

[NiceEqualLengths]

Your best tires (that is, the ones with the most tread) should always go on the rear.

especially on my girlfriends '14 Mirage right?

[RockThePylon]

Your best tires (that is, the ones with the most tread) should always go on the rear.

But, you must rotate tires to maintain even wear. If the fronts wear faster than the rear, but you gotta have the best on the rear, then oh itshay I guess you can't rotate your tires.

Then, wait, OMG, Subaru has AWD. Crap, those smart internet people say you should avoid more than 2/32th difference in tread depth for risk of damaging your center differential. Soooo, I guess I gotta get new tires every 10,000km. Dang.

Nobody said Subaru was cheap 

[VTAKLOL]

especially on my girlfriends '14 Mirage right?

Yep, and every other car. Drivetrain layout is completely irrelevant, the best tires should be on the rear, see Saul's explanation (or the many videos by tire manufacturers that cover this) as to why.
Additionally, having the best on the rear will help ensure your vehicle stays pointed straight when braking hard on a slick surface and keep the back end from fishtailing out on you.

But, you must rotate tires to maintain even wear. If the fronts wear faster than the rear, but you gotta have the best on the rear, then oh itshay I guess you can't rotate your tires.

Then, wait, OMG, Subaru has AWD. Crap, those smart internet people say you should avoid more than 2/32th difference in tread depth for risk of damaging your center differential. Soooo, I guess I gotta get new tires every 10,000km. Dang.

Nobody said Subaru was cheap 

If you stay on top of your rotations, then this will be a non-issue. I'd say the "best on rear rule" mainly applies when there's a significant difference in tread depth. If you rotate regularly and your tires stay within 1 or 2/32 of each other, my guess is that any difference in performance would be negligible.
If you let your tires get beyond that on your AWD car and find yourself needing new tires, then that's your own fault haha.

[RockThePylon]

If you stay on top of your rotations, then this will be a non-issue. I'd say the "best on rear rule" mainly applies when there's a significant difference in tread depth. If you rotate regularly and your tires stay within 1 or 2/32 of each other, my guess is that any difference in performance would be negligible.
If you let your tires get beyond that on your AWD car and find yourself needing new tires, then that's your own fault haha.

You're mounting up your tires in the fall, you forget which ones were F/R when you took them off in the spring.

You should put the meatier tires on the front, because they will wear faster. The "better on the rear" rule is for weird people who buy 2 winter tires instead of 4.

[VTAKLOL]

You're mounting up your tires in the fall, you forget which ones were F/R when you took them off in the spring.

You should put the meatier tires on the front, because they will wear faster. The "better on the rear" rule is for weird people who buy 2 winter tires instead of 4.

False and false. You put the meatier tires on the rear for the reasons that have already been mentioned..
And it's not a rule for those weird dumb people, it's for everyone. But like I said, staying on top of your tire rotations makes the rule irrelevant anyways since your tires should then always be very close in tread depth, front to rear.

And if you forgot which were where when you took them off..measure them lol and then don't forget to mark them when you take them off again.    

[snackers]

Triple false.
Manufacturers may state the opposite due to plebs, and Saul stated this as well. Plebs don't understand oversteer. It is not a terrible thing.
Those statements do not become universal law just because the majority of society is pleb mouthbreathers.

I would never put the grippier tires on the rear on a subaru for street driving, for winter driving, for autocross driving, for summer driving, not even for 780 stance parking.
I want the grippier tires on the wheels that provide direction of travel, and also take the most force in a turn.
Tire pressures will then assist in controlling oversteer due to less tread in the rear.

So I guess you have to ask yourself...
Are you a pleb?
Or do you have a proper understanding of physics supported by the proper skills necessary to handle a 3000lb hunk of metal travelling at high rates of speeds.
One answer is correct. The other one will end you in a ditch.

[Canuckrz]

Triple false.
Manufacturers may state the opposite due to plebs, and Saul stated this as well. Plebs don't understand oversteer. It is not a terrible thing.
Those statements do not become universal law just because the majority of society is pleb mouthbreathers.

I would never put the grippier tires on the rear on a subaru for street driving, for winter driving, for autocross driving, for summer driving, not even for 780 stance parking.
I want the grippier tires on the wheels that provide direction of travel, and also take the most force in a turn.
Tire pressures will then assist in controlling oversteer due to less tread in the rear.

So I guess you have to ask yourself...
Are you a pleb?
Or do you have a proper understanding of physics supported by the proper skills necessary to handle a 3000lb hunk of metal travelling at high rates of speeds.
One answer is correct. The other one will end you in a ditch.

Pretty much this ^

The best to the back rule has been and is the industry standard since I worked at toyota at least. Its mostly just because stupid people can more easily deal with understeer, so its better to do that from a liability perspective.

However this is irrelevant to OP's scenario ENTIRELY. The best to the back rule was largely intended for when someone has mismatching tires, and or if 2/4 tires are significantly more worn. Replacing 2 tires at a time was somewhat commonplace in Nova Scotia, so the rule came in to place fairly often out there anyway. Lack of cash to do things the right way, lack of maintenance etc etc.

[VTAKLOL]

Triple false.
Manufacturers may state the opposite due to plebs, and Saul stated this as well. Plebs don't understand oversteer. It is not a terrible thing.
Those statements do not become universal law just because the majority of society is pleb mouthbreathers.

I would never put the grippier tires on the rear on a subaru for street driving, for winter driving, for autocross driving, for summer driving, not even for 780 stance parking.
I want the grippier tires on the wheels that provide direction of travel, and also take the most force in a turn.
Tire pressures will then assist in controlling oversteer due to less tread in the rear.

So I guess you have to ask yourself...
Are you a pleb?
Or do you have a proper understanding of physics supported by the proper skills necessary to handle a 3000lb hunk of metal travelling at high rates of speeds.
One answer is correct. The other one will end you in a ditch.

I don't disagree with what you've said, but most people on here and out on the road fall into the category of "average driver" or "thinks-they're-above-average-when-they're-really-not driver", hence the best-to-back rule.
I fully believe that it was made the standard for the exact reason you said, it is easier for the average driver to sort out understeer, than oversteer.
After working in the tire industry, you learn it's best when you're giving advice to assume everyone is a "pleb", as you say, rather than assume they have a proper understanding of physics along with said necessary skills.

But I'll say it for a third time, the rule becomes irrelevant to everyone if you regularly rotate your tires!

[RockThePylon]

The fronts wear faster.

So, if you start with a brand new set front and rear, after any distance travelled, the fronts will have less tread depth. You'd NEVER rotate your tires in that case, because you always want the best tires on the rear, right? You should just replace two tires at a time, moving the rears to the front when the fronts wear out and you buy a new pair for the rear.

Except that's uckfaying retarded and you should just put the tires with 1mm more tread on the front so it will even out the wear.

[VTAKLOL]

The fronts wear faster.

So, if you start with a brand new set front and rear, after any distance travelled, the fronts will have less tread depth. You'd NEVER rotate your tires in that case, because you always want the best tires on the rear, right? You should just replace two tires at a time, moving the rears to the front when the fronts wear out and you buy a new pair for the rear.

Except that's uckfaying retarded and you should just put the tires with 1mm more tread on the front so it will even out the wear.

I'm fully aware the fronts wear faster and doing that IS uckfaying retarded and not at all what I was suggesting.
I said earlier that if you keep your tread depths within 1-2/32nds of each other by doing regular rotations, it becomes a non-issue as you won't notice a difference in tire performance with them being so close in depth.
At this point I think we're just arguing about something that we all agree on lol.