Tire rotation: front-to-back? Side-to-side?

daedalus · Post by **daedalus** » 27 Jun 2012, 14:56

Well, after some minor issues with the AWD system, I removed the rear drive shaft and have noticed that it is quieter and is getting slightly better mpg. Anyways, my question is: Now that my car is now a FWD, I can rotate the tires in the conventional way, correct?

Post by **BEJinFbk** » 27 Jun 2012, 15:52

Conventional for any modern car
with radials should be front to back.
Am I missing something here?

And keep in mind that the mileage
and noise may have been related to
poor CV/U-joint condition in the shaft.
Probably worth repairing before winter:
http://coloradodriveshaft.com/

Ask for Dave - He'll hook you up!

Post by **JRL** » 27 Jun 2012, 16:12

Front to back IS the "conventional way.
Never cross rotate
You don't have 45 year old biased ply tires

Post by **jimmy57** » 27 Jun 2012, 17:29

Why do you say that JRL? Michelin and most others have back to front and cross rotate to back as a recommended method. For some they show it as an alternate way to do it but I just looked at Michelin website and they show it as the primary way to do it.
It is very commonly done when there is any scalloped wear pattern.
45 year old radials may have had this as an issue but belt stability has been fixed.
Tires with pre-existing issues (like tires that are known to have been run very low for a long time) may still have problems from this but those tires may have had problems anyway.
I haven't had a cross rotate issue in long time and that is the way I do it unless i have other reasons not to.

Directional tires are an exception

Post by **JRL** » 27 Jun 2012, 17:54

then knock yourself out

daedalus · Post by **daedalus** » 27 Jun 2012, 18:11

I second Jimmy's assessment. It was my understanding that cross rotating was the standard way to do it, as shown below in example B. However, my understanding aside, what is the consensus here on proper FWD tire rotation? What does everyone else do? Jim, are you saying that the tires should stay on the same side of the car permanently?

sliptones629 · Post by **sliptones629** » 27 Jun 2012, 18:19

I think you need to be very careful as a lot of tires today have directional tread patterns. So you can't cross front/rear, your tire would be going the wrong direction down the road.

Post by **jimmy57** » 27 Jun 2012, 19:10

After I knocked myself out I looked at every major tire manufacturer and they all (Continental does not have a chart I could find) show cross rotation as the recommendation.
Again as listed in my post above, directional tires are not included and go front to back only to preserve the tread pattern orientation that makes them directional. The limited number of cars with different size tires front to rear also are excepted (these tires usually last less than 15K anyway..).

daedalus · Post by **daedalus** » 27 Jun 2012, 19:19

+1 on the knocked yourself out....too funny!!

Oddbob · Post by **Oddbob** » 27 Jun 2012, 21:25

At the shop where I work we do front to back rotations. I'm not entirely sure why, but I'm certain we do it simply because its easier to do one rotation pattern for all cars (for directional and non-directional tires).