When rotating tires, follow the OEM manual or tire manufacturer?

[Ed_Flecko]

My Tacoma came with Toyo Open Country A31 tires. I don't think they are directional tires, since they do not have a rotational arrow on the sidewall.

My owners manual says to rotate the tires back to front and vise-versa, on the same side of the truck, but I have documentation provided to me directly from Toyo tires that says to rotate non-directional tires side to side, back to front.

Which one should I follow?

Thank you,
Ed

 

[nwjones18]

Cross them X.

 

[Shel_B]

Opinion Alert: I don't think it matters one way or the other, especially so on a rear wheel drive vehicle.

 

[supton]

I do cross. Front to back, as per @CapriRacer, gets something like 90% of the gain of rotations. Being on BITOG that means I have to go the extra mile to do cross. As I only have FWD/AWD, I do fronts straight back, crossing rears as they go to the front. Each tire gets a bit of time at each corner.

FWD is hardest on tires and seems to need the utmost for rotations (for my roads anyhow--YMMV). RWD seems much more gentle and may not really need crossing. Thing is... you won't know until you get a wear pattern, and then once a wear pattern is established, there's no going back. All you can do is take note of the pattern, and then on the next set, do something different (if required) to try to avoid.

 

[johnmyster]

Observe wear. Measure wear. Rotate tires to distribute wear. Leave manual in glove box.

Every home mechanic should own:

 

[Cujet]

During braking, the leading edge of each tread block will wear more. Tread blocks can be uneven Front to Back.

Feel it by running a hand forward, then back, on top of the tread. Typically, on TOP of the tire the forward edge is taller.

Rotating in an X helps reduce this type of uneven wear.

Note: Modern vehicles often use rear brakes as much as the front during light braking, as it provides stability and feel benefits.

 

[johnmyster]

During braking, the leading edge of each tread block will wear more. Tread blocks can be uneven Front to Back.

Feel it by running a hand forward, then back, on top of the tread. Typically, on TOP of the tire the forward edge is taller.

What you describe and illustrate is that the edge of the tread block that strikes the ground first actually wears less. Counterintuitive. This has nothing to do with braking and everything to do with toe. As a tire squirms its way down the road the last part of a tread block that contacts the road gets the most lateral tension (and sliding) placed on it. (The first contact point has zero lateral tension on it.) The trailing edge has the greatest wear.

So yes, side-side or diagonal is the mechanism to help keep the tires from becoming too noisy in this regard.

Due to differences front to back, you may notice one axle tends to develop or erase this wear pattern more than the other.

 

[Kira]

I don't have a frame jack, so....
I jack the back and swap the rears.
Then I jack up one side and swap 'em F and R.
Then do that on the other side.
My tires wear straight and evenly.

Late edit: To supton, I'm not understanding 'wear patterns + no going back' concept.
You mean like severe inside edge wear? So bad, it kills the tire?..sure.
Maybe out of track?
I've seen bad scalloping go away after a rotation.

 

[Cujet]

What you describe and illustrate is that the edge of the tread block that strikes the ground first actually wears less. Counterintuitive. This has nothing to do with braking and everything to do with toe. As a tire squirms its way down the road the last part of a tread block that contacts the road gets the most lateral tension (and sliding) placed on it. (The first contact point has zero lateral tension on it.) The trailing edge has the greatest wear.

So yes, side-side or diagonal is the mechanism to help keep the tires from becoming too noisy in this regard.

Due to differences front to back, you may notice one axle tends to develop or erase this wear pattern more than the other.

I get your point as there clearly are alignment, and loading related wear patterns and even situations where only part of the tread block 'overheats'. Even so, take a look at what happens to a knobby tire on vehicles where 'toe' matters not, and when the front brake is used heavily for stopping on the street...

Put another way, if a tire is used properly (good alignment, not overloaded, etc) on good roads, with minimal braking, such as interstate travel, the tread block wear pattern I describe does not happen.

 

[johnmyster]

I get your point as there clearly are alignment, and loading related wear patterns and even situations where only part of the tread block 'overheats'. Even so, take a look at what happens to a knobby tire on vehicles where 'toe' matters not, and when the front brake is used heavily for stopping on the street...

Put another way, if a tire is used properly (good alignment, not overloaded, etc) on good roads, with minimal braking, such as interstate travel, the tread block wear pattern I describe does not happen.

Um, that’s due to the relatively tall knobs folding the carcas due to high force and low air pressure.

The sawtooth pattern on most passenger cars is due to even small toe variations, as described. Even on a car with “perfect” static alignment, dynamic is another animal.

 

[CapriRacer]

My Tacoma came with Toyo Open Country A31 tires. I don't think they are directional tires, since they do not have a rotational arrow on the sidewall.

My owners manual says to rotate the tires back to front and vise-versa, on the same side of the truck, but I have documentation provided to me directly from Toyo tires that says to rotate non-directional tires side to side, back to front.

Which one should I follow?

Thank you,
Ed

Opinion Alert: I don't think it matters one way or the other, especially so on a rear wheel drive vehicle.

Yup, it doesn't matter much, so long as you do the front-to-rear. Although the cross helps eliminate heel and toe wear, but that is usually not a problem, unless there is an alignment issue.

 

[ka9mnx]

All rear wheel drive here. Backs go straight forward and fronts get crossed going to the rear. Did it this way all my driving career and seems to work for me. Even did it this way on the rare few front drive cars I owned.