I recently, replace the two rear tires with Yokohama AVID ENVigor (H&V)
175/65R15. My front tires were completely worn down so I had the back tires (6/32) moved to the front and the new tires placed on the back. Now, my car oversteers so bad I'm afraid to drive it. Also, I noticed that the tires feel like they are "slipping" when I go around a large curve. This happened for the first time today and I felt like the car was stuttering. I got concerned and pulled over to make sure the lug-nuts were secure and that there was enough air in the tires. Both were fine and now I don't know what to do. Any suggestions??? I got the tires from Tire rack and put on by Autotire. Do I need to take it to a MINI Dealer??

 

First check your tire pressures. Rear tires inflated higher than the fronts will induce oversteer. We do this intentionally on the track when needed. From what I read in your post this may be the case as overinflated rears will give you all those symptoms. Hopefully that is the case because it is easily corrected. Good luck!

 

Also, you should put the new tires on the front as that is where all the work is being done on your front wheel drive car.

 

I check the tire pressure and they were all at 37psi. Should I let out some air? I thought the same thing about putting the new tires on the front, but Autotire, and my MINI dealer assured me that they must go on the back for some reason?

 

Check the sticker inside your drivers side door for correct tire inflation. It will give you the "cold" pressure to set it at which means as it has been sitting for a while not just off the road at highway speeds. If 37 is your cold temp then I would suspect you are set too high. Probably more towards 32 cold is what you need. If that is the case you will see a big difference in handling with a 5psi drop.

 

Worn tires on the back can slide out on you, so the new tires to rear is correct. However due to the way a MINI wears rear tires - I take the owner's manual suggestion and do not rotate tires.

You should consider getting two more new tires.

 

Doak,

The new tires on the front or rear issue got me wondering and I did a few internet searches and found the answer to why car shops and dealerships are suggesting putting the new tires on the rear if only replacing two. Turns out that it has sprung from the legal aspects of liability and applies to both rwd and rwd vehichles. The thought process is that the front tires are steering the car and if they loose traction the driver will be more likely to recover with better tread on the rear. So pushing worn tires to their limit and having good rear tires to save being spun is better than pushing new tread on the front to the limit and having even less grip on the rear which will most likely cause an accident is the best way to go short of changing all four. The source of this information was from an old post on CarTalk. I love that show!

 

MCS Fever makes a very good suggestion in getting two more new tires, plus confirming the correct placement of the new two. I drive a lot, about 55K miles a year, and I rotate my tires every 3K miles. This gives me a pretty even wear from front to rear and once I'm ready for tires all four get replaced. But in the case of changing only two you have to consider the difference in sidewall strength and handling characteristis of the front and rear tires unless they are the exact same brand, make and model.

 

Along with tire pressure a little bit of the problem could be that the new tires are a little oily. I have found that new tires are pretty slippery when new, less than a few hundred miles. I suspect it is a mold release agent that is on the tire and needs to wear off.

 

Thanks so much for all the help. I let out some air to 32 psi and the problem still exists so I stopped by Autotire on the way home. They informed me that I need to return the new tires and buy 4 new Continentials, b/c "they are a high performance tire". I don't buy this. I had numerous traction issues with this tire, that is why I wanted to get a new brand.

What do you all think, should I just buy 2 new tires to match the ones I just bought? Do you think this is what is causing my over steering? Also I was wrong about the brand. I bought General Altimax HP 175/65/16. Anyone have any experience with this tire?

 

I think Quikmni is onto something. See Tireracks recommendation regarding the break in period for new tires.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...e.jsp?techid=5

 

I suspect the problem is more that your old front tires have better traction than your new oily rear tires. I would stick with the General tires and get two additional tires for the front.

In the future, I would suggest rotating the tires front to back at least once during their lifetime to allow all four tires to wear about the same so you can replace four tires at the same time. Most tire stores will rotate tires for free.

I have never used the General Altimax HP tires but they rank well in the Tire Rack survey so I would think the tires are OK.

If money is tight and you do not want to purchase two more tires, ask the tire store to swap the old tires to the rear and put the new tires on the front. That way you can see if that eliminates the oversteer.

 

I did an Auto-X with only 250 miles on new tires (Hankook EVO V12). The first few runs were a little exciting because the tires were still a little greasey even after 200 miles. The back end was quite loose. The Auto-X did wear the oil (release agent) off pretty fast.

 

I have Yokohama AVID ENVigor 195/55 16. I replaced my runflats with them. Rotate every 5000, alignment every 6 months, 35 psi. No problems with handling.

Your problems may stem from a mismatch front/rear.

 

New tires are greasy for the first hundred or so miles.

Anyway, I prefer to rotate tires often and replace all 4 at the same time. But that's not required.

- andrew

 

+1 to Paleo's observation above. If you have mismatched brand, make or model tires you are asking for problems due to the differing handling characteristics of the front and rear tires. If you change types of tires it is always best to replace all four at the same time.

 

Do you have runflats in the front?
If yes, then the front tires are a lot "stiffer" laterally (due to thicker side walls). As a result, you'll have a stiff front end and a loose rear end.

The same happened to me when I replaced my rear 18" with non-runflats.
But as soon as I replaced the front (two weeks later), the car didn't oversteer anymore.