Proper Tire Rotation

[Alan Peters]

Quick couple of q's. My receipt says I had a front wheel rotation instead of a 4 wheel rotation. Is their a big difference? The front wheel is opposite the diagram in the manuel. I called the tire shop and his response was it wasn't a big deal since the tires are not on the same axel. Is this true???

 

[WXMotorSports DecalsPartsAccs]

I always rotate Front Right to Rear Right, Front Left to Left Rear. Especially, since the rear axle is trailing only so I get much more life out of the tires then swapping side to side.

 

[Todd Z]

With radial ply tires they do not recommend that you criss cross tires, it can cause a belt to shift in the tire...



On the old bias ply it was ok and recommended you criss cross them...



I allways rotate front to back....

Todd Z

 

[Alan Peters]

The front 2 tires moved to the rear and vice versa? I didn't notice a pull. Hmmm.... I wonder if it was a clerical error.

 

[Todd Z]

Yes, move the front 2 to the back.....the back 2 to the front, keeping the right side on the right and the left side on the left..

Todd Z

 

[Alan Peters]

Ok. Makes sense. Seems pretty simple. I'm thinking down the road of doing my own tire rotations. I really appreciate the help Todd. Thanks a ton!

 

[EddieS'04]

Belts dont shift in modern radial tires from rotation..I always cross fronts to rear and rear straight forward. Never had a problem the 30yrs I been using radials. The onlyexception is tires with directional tread, front to back same side only..

 

[Travis Munday]

I rotate like Fast Eddie does, and as per the recommended procedure in the manual. Of course, when you've got directional tires and different sizes front to rear like I do, tire rotation isn't an issue.

 

[Dave King]

My local Ford dealer rotates the same way Todd Z does.

 

[Johnny O]

Modern radials are okay with crossing them. I've never had any trouble. I just do it the way the manual says.

 

[2]

My Ford dealer also does it the same way as Todd Z does.

 

[Richard L]

I get my tires rotated at Goodyear and they always cross them. The rear tires move straight up to the front, but the fronts are crossed to the other side and moved to the rear axle. I have done it this way for years and have no cupping, or abnormal wear on any vehicle I have owned in the past 20 years... All with Goodyear tires too.



...Rich

 

[Gavin Allan]

I cross-rotate as well, same as RichardL says.



Goodyears need to be rotated to the landfill, however...

 

[biznaga]

IIRC COSTCO said they rotate tires around vehicle so that after 4 rotations each tire is in its origional place.



Also IIRC they used to do front to back so maybe they have changed their rotation criteria.



Seems like there are many ways to rotate tires.

 

[2]

4X4 and 2wd might have different rotation requirements. (I vaguely remember reading about this in my manual)

 

[Yardsale]

There is a difference between four and five wheel rotation (besides the number of wheels).



I have been doing this for many years with many sets of tires with no problems. I recall back in the early eighties that cross rotation of radial tires was deemed okay. This makes sense considering the technological advances in the last 50 years.