Yes, the fronts do a lot of that - but the rears are the most important with road-holding and handling. Try a pair of bald tyres on a the rear on a wet road, with good rubber on the front. The car will soon either 1) try; or 2) succeed ... in swapping ends, or doing a neat 360° pirouette - unless a tree/lamp post stops it in the meantime.
I think Valiant V meant "the fronts do pretty much ALL the work" specifically in terms of the rate of wear, and there's no quibble with that—the fronts certainly wear faster. In fact, if you never ever rotate the tires, you're pretty much guaranteed to have the better ones on the rear, which is good for handling. The trick with rotation is if you're going to rotate at all, be sure to do it often enough that the front tires aren't much worse at the time you move them to the rear, and the new fronts can quickly catch up.
This is my first car in ages where I've had tyres rotated. I tried telling the dealer I didn't want it - but couldn't bother arguing with them - getting too old to bother. Now all 4 will wear out soon-ish and I'll get a full set - or a new car. My preference is to wear the fronts out - toss em out, throw the backs to the front and put a new pair on the back - etc etc.
Maybe a south of the equator thing? That would drive me mad. Was just thinking about the 70’s~80’s, when the norm was silver painted steel rims, chromed acorn lug nuts and traditional “hub caps”, ie: small caps that pushed onto (and sealed/protected) the central hub opening on the wheel. It was all functional, and looked half-decent. Expectations were more reasonable too: they were just wheels in those days. Then I recall having wheels with chromed “appearance” rings pushed onto the rims (with brutal claws). Next car had full plastic covers. Then manufacturers switched from silver to ghetto black rims. How we progress.
Tbh the 2019 wheel covers ( same size as the 2016 15 inch ) look better. I did try no wheel covers on my 2016 and my mpg was reduced
If your equator is at 49N, then yes. It is common here. But on wet and winter roads, it would drive me mad too.
