Tires: Tire Pulling, yokohama aegis ls4, toyota corolla

Question
Barry-I bought 4 new tires for my 2000 toyota corolla.  5000 miles later the car was involved in an accident and I had to get a new tire, rim, and various other parts.  The exact same tire,size,make,model, ect was put on the car.  When I got the car back the garage put the new tire on the back and said if they didn't, the car would always pull to the front side it was put on because it is bigger.  I am trying to find out if this is true.  If so, how am I suspose to rotate the tires?  Tires are Yokohama Aegis LS4 P175/65R14.  Car has 44k on it. Other repairs besides new tire and rim include Left front knuckle,hub,cuter tierod,bearing,lower ball joint.  The car has been aligned.  Thanks for your help, Dave

Answer
Dave.

I suspect what the garage may have been trying to tell you is that is would be SAFER to have the tire on the rear, and that if you put it on the front it might pull because it is larger in diameter because it has all the tread, where the other tires have some amount of wear.

The last part is false.  They may be slightly different in diameter, but I don't think a pull can be reasonably traced to the difference in diameter.

But the best situation is for all 4 tires to be the same and have the same state of wear.  If this is not feasible, then the tires should be paired on a given axle.  It is not advisable to have an odd tire on a given axle - and that's the stuation you have.

Yes, rotations are going to be a problem.  And my advice would be to pick the most worn tire and replace that one with a new one, then you'd have a pair of new tires that will be matched up.

What you would do after that is put the 2 new tires on the rear and not do a rotation until the fronts are worn out.  (The fronts will wear 2 1/2 times faster than the rears.)  Then purchase 2 more of the same, and then you'll have 4 tires which will be pretty close to the same state of wear andf you can restart the rotation procedure.

Hope this helps.