Some frugal car owners with front wheel drive may be tempted to buy new tires for the front wheels only. The reasoning behind this is that the front wheels seem to do everything that matters while the rear wheels just go along for the ride. After all, the front wheel accelerates the car and does the steering. These two vital functions require good tire tread. Once all four tires wear down after careful tire rotation, you can spend half as much money by only replacing the front tires. As long as the.