Rotating for tire health

[Fsharp]

Originally Posted By: BigD1
One of my local tire shops will not crisscross the tires period. They say they have seen too much belt separation over the years to do it any longer. I know on my front wheel drive the fronts move straight back to the rear, and the rears are crisscrossed to the front. They just refused to do it that way saying yes that was right, but they won't do it like that.


I've heard this too, specifically for radial tires. I'm not sure how much truth there is to it, but my Tacoma says straight front to back so that's what I do.

 

[Eddie]

I've never heard of this but, would like to hear more from tire manufactures. Ed

 

[Eddie]

My 2014 CX5 Mazda FWD owners manual states to use a forward cross

 

[circuitsmith]

The first few years of radial tires had problems with reversing the rotation; modern radials don't.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

I just rotated my own tires for the first time and crossed the rears to the front while bringing the fronts straight back, as shown in my owner's manual for non-directional tires. Bought a little trolley jack at Pep Boys for $35 and jack stands at Sears for $20, then used one of my snows mounted on its own wheel to fill the open spot in the rotation. It felt good to take care of it myself on the schedule I wanted, but paying my tire shop $20 to have four guys with four jacks do it in minutes has its appeal, too.

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi
I just rotated my own tires for the first time and crossed the rears to the front while bringing the fronts straight back, as shown in my owner's manual for non-directional tires...

 

[mclasser]

Quick question - My Accord's non-directional tires are 35K miles old and have been regularly rotated (lifetime rotate/balance) by the install shop. I'm pretty sure they've only been rotated side-to-side. Would cross-rotating this late in the game be a problem? I can live with the extra noise in the beginning while the tires get used to spinning in the other direction.

 

[supton]

Run your hand over the tread. Do they feel like they have taken a wear to them? Toe issues tend to cause the tires to put ramps onto the tread blocks; if you run your hand in one direction, it may feel smooth, but reverse the direction you'll feel a sharp "edge".

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: mclasser
Quick question - My Accord's non-directional tires are 35K miles old and have been regularly rotated (lifetime rotate/balance) by the install shop. I'm pretty sure they've only been rotated side-to-side. Would cross-rotating this late in the game be a problem? I can live with the extra noise in the beginning while the tires get used to spinning in the other direction.


No problem at all. They might make a little bit of noise right after you rotate, but that should lessen and go away after a couple hundred miles.

 

[PolarisX]

Originally Posted By: BigD1
One of my local tire shops will not crisscross the tires period. They say they have seen too much belt separation over the years to do it any longer. I know on my front wheel drive the fronts move straight back to the rear, and the rears are crisscrossed to the front. They just refused to do it that way saying yes that was right, but they won't do it like that.


Same!

I just had mine done today, they also rebalance the front tires because of so many returns. I guess people going to cheap places, getting tires that won't balance on the back, get them rotated, then experience shake.

I can't complain for 30 bucks with balance. I only rotate when its a visible issue, so maybe 3 times during the life of a set.

 

[FFFEMT]

Sayjac: Taking my '13Kia Sportage AWD to Discount Tires on Thursday for first rotation. 6500 miles on tires. Kia shows in user manual front tires go straight to rear and rear tires cross when they go up front. Manual does not specify FWD or AWD. Should I show manual to DT or do they know which way to rotate?

 

[Eddie]

I always show or tell them because if you don't they may pick the easy way which no crossing. Ed

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: FFFEMT
Sayjac: Taking my '13Kia Sportage AWD to Discount Tires on Thursday for first rotation. 6500 miles on tires. Kia shows in user manual front tires go straight to rear and rear tires cross when they go up front. Manual does not specify FWD or AWD. Should I show manual to DT or do they know which way to rotate?


It isn't very critical and even if they do it differently than what Kia says (unlikely as the patterns are fairly well established worldwide), the only thing that really matters is getting the fronts on the rear and vice versa.

 

[Sayjac]

I defer to Capri's expertise, but agree not critical. Seems Kia Sportage OM is showing what would be most common rotation for a FWD vehicle. So Xing completely as shown by TR for AWD or Xing to front and fronts brought straight back will work fine imo. Being AWD I'd likely X completely, but that's just me.

And, I would not assume DT will know what you prefer. On my Tacoma (RWD) I always make sure to tell them to X on the way back and bring backs straight up. There have been times I think they would have done the FWD rotation listed by TR had I said nothing. Again, not that it likely makes a huge difference, just my preference to use TR shown RWD rotation.

So make sure to tell DT 'if' you want the tires completely Xed or just use standard FWD X'd to front rotation.

 

[FFFEMT]

Eddie, Capri, and Sayjac- Thank you for your very quick input. I think I will bring the manual and show DT what Kia suggests.

 

[raytseng]

Most important is front/back equalization, cross is less important.

Next, when you do a cross though, the way they cross is less important as being sure you do the same cross in your Next rotations. If the goal is to optimize for each tire to get equal time in each corner, you need to cross the same way, so that the tires get to be in Position3 and Position4, and not go back to position1.

 

[Sayjac]

Originally Posted By: FFFEMT
... I think I will bring the manual and show DT what Kia suggests.

I suspect they will agree as in my experience, with the exception of directional tire rotations, I believe the standard TR shown FWD rotation method is their default method.