Tires: Tire Rotation, season tires, drive wheels

Question
I have two relatively new and two older all-season tires. When replacing the winter tires with the all-season radials the garage recommended to put the older ones with less of a profile in the front of the front wheel drive Camry. They claim that it gives the car a better road stability. The next garage recommended to put the better ones in the front. They claim that it makes the car safer because of better traction on the drive wheels. Which garage is correct?

Answer
Frank,

Obviously the best answer is to rotate your tires regularly so that they wear at about the same rate.  This is the best and safest position to be in.

But this is a vehicle handling issue and should be answered by the vehicle manufacturer.

However, if they don't have an answer, conventional wisdom says the safest place to put the tires with the deepest tread is where you are least likely to have problems if you hydroplane.  I don't know about you, but if I lose control of the rear in a FWD vehicle I think I won't have as much chance of recovering compared to losing control of the front.  So IMHO the rear is the best place.

But this does present a problem because the front tires on a FWD wear faster.  (Gets me back to why rotation is important!)

Hope this helps.