tire rotation?

[Pee Wee]

I have a Toyota Tundra double cab 4x4 and will need to rotate the tires soon. The manual says to move the front tires straight to the rear and bring the rear straight to the front. But some guy's say to cross the front tires when you put them on the rear and bring the rears straight forward yet others say to cross the rear tires then put them on the front and bring the front tire straight back. What is the best way to rotate
on a 4x4? Thanks for your time!!!!

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

PW, when in doubt, follow the manual.

 

[SSDude]

Crossing the tires is a no-no when you have uni-directional tires. The tires where meant for a specific side of the car. I rotate my unidirectional tires every 6,000 miles and keep then on the same side and as a result, I have little wear on my tires.

 

[seotaji]

follow the manual

 

[tdi-rick]

I was always taught that you can cross rotate bias and cross ply tyres, but that radials should always only rotate the same way, so front to rear, rear to front on the same side. The only way to swap sides is to dis-mount and re-mount the tyres on the respective rims, maintaining direction of rotation. yes I've done this and its a pain in the arse, and probably not worth doing.

Something to do with the belt orientation of a radial taking a 'set' in one direction, and this may create undue stress in the tyre if these forces are reversed.

Rick.

 

[CapriRacer]

tdi-rick,

In the early days of radial tires, cross rotation patterns could lead to premature failure. However, modern radial tires do not suffer from those problems and it is actually beneficial to cross rotate - prevention of irregular wear.

Pee Wee,

Why Toyota doesn't recommend cross rotation is a mystery, especially for 4X4's - perhaps they are stuck in the 1970's - but when in doubt, follow the manual.

Everyone else,

Just so we are clear - directional tires will have an arrow on the side showing the proper direction of rotation. This means rotation on the same side - front to rear. However, no arrow - not directional.

Tires that have the words "This Side Out" are asymetrical, and it doesn't matter which direction they rotate. This means any rotation pattern works.

If the tires have both - then they are both asymetrical and directional - and the rotation pattern is front to rear.

Unless you have different tire sizes front to rear.

Hope this helps.

[ June 27, 2004, 08:07 AM: Message edited by: CapriRacer ]