Tire rotation

[PBaker]

Just wondering when you guys rotate your tires how do you do it? Such as front to back same side or criss cross them. It seems when you ask the tire dealers they all have a differant opinion on it, so I thought I would just ask the pros and be done with it.



Thanks,

Paul

 

[radixr]

The owner's manual shows the rear tires go to the front and the front tires diagonally to the back. Probably does not make a difference which ones are crossed as long as you do the same pattern every time.

 

[Dieselnerd]

I used to do the cross rotation but I threw treads twice, once with Goodyear and once with Dunlop. An old tire pro at a tire shop told me that on load range E tires on a pickup, he would only rotate them from front to back on the same side so they always rotated in the same direction. He said he saw many tires where the belts shifted slightly when they were mounted so the tires would rotate in the opposite direction from their original location. That often caused pulling to one side or the other and sometimes caused the tread to come off. I can attest to both the pulling and the tread separation since I experienced both. Since then, I only rotate from front to back on the same side and have had no problems. The tires still wear nice and even.

 

[JohnE]

A former coworker is also a trucker. He had a large packet of information on tires, specifically getting the maximum performance out of tires. It recommended periodically counter rotating tires to keep the tread blocks wear even, around (rotationally to) the tire and flipping a tire on the rim to even the wear across the tread. I was glad to read that as I both flip & counter rotate. It works great for me even on the truck tires.



I notice many tire manufacturers recommend keeping the drive wheels rotating in the same direction and crossing the driven wheels. This follows the pattern in our books.



If you are leery on counter rotating, but want to maximize tread wear periodically flip on the rims and keep your rotation in the same direction.



I remember older radials could not handle the counter rotating due to belt shift & set and would separate or otherwise self destruct.

 

[Forrest]

I keep-um on the same side. I still wonder about the cross rotation on radials issue. I don't know if it was ever true & if it was, does it even apply to todays E series radials?



By the way, when I rotate, I also clean the inside of the wheels. I've got the Alcoa made for Mickey Thompsons. You can see thru to the inside of the wheels & that inside shine looks great.

 

[R.ebel]

Rotation

I do not cross rotate my tires, twice I've been burned by cross rotating. On one set of tires the belts shifted causing a very bad pull to the left. On another set of Goodyears the tires developed wild hairs [broken belt wires] that worked there way out and poked through the sidewall. I've learned my lesson

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[Forrest]

Nuff said ...

You aswered that one, thanks R. ebel.

 

[PBaker]

Same side

Thanks guy's I will keep them on the same side to be safe. Tires are expensive enough without rushing there demise.



Paul

 

[rhoads]

To rotate or not!

This topic is a mine field>

having changed /repaired/trouble shot tire related problems(caught a tire mfg with a design change which resulted in failures and and got a major $$$ refund for a former employier, 100+ power units-200= trailers over 25yrs you learn things. and last 6 yrs ordered all tires.

I against every thing i knew i rotated the oem thire's twice on my truck and as i knew before the 2nd rotation i knew i made a mistake. Mind you if you were to look in my sah try you would find pens,white out and a REAL tire tread guage ,right door pocket air gauage& calibrated test gauge.

In the real world my blue rig keeps the steering tires IN place aprox 215 miles (not miss print).

Drive tires stay on the drive but i do switch location's, KEEPING them going the Same direction about 1/2-2/3rd's thru there tread life(dually) On the rear i replace them in oct-nov (DEEP tread for winter)rear tires get around 115k and run them down to 4/32and there always some one that will buy them for $30 each and think he is saving $$. I LOVE that grip effect.

When i switch the drives i only pull the one that is worn down(which most of the time is the outside on one sid and inside on the other) HIGH side of the road ,depends it Interstate or state 2 lane which ever i run more .

Steer's when i pull(6/32, i save ,mark rotation and when i have 4, mount - match by height and run during the no-snow months and run down to 3-2/32 and trash they, do get loose on wet roads and you have to watch wind and rain.

What i all ready knew and reaffirmed on the first set IF you take the mfg suggestions you wear them all out the same time AND it shortens the tire LIFE! 76k on the g-yrs and they were done.

Most people buy tires by cost!! BUT you can pay more and get more tread life (miles) AND increase MPG 's and results in the higher priced tires cost you less than that cheap set. Results in more for less . say any G name vs. M.

Back in 94 i did a SAE test over three days 2 rigs & drivers over the same 30 mile course ,load ed the same down to the placement in side the trl, Used the both G's ,K/s,B,& M. the results were M beat B by 4% MPG"S

The last day the asked if there anything i wanted to anything else,I installed re-cap'ed M's on just the trailer of both rigs and found we lost 2 %. That ended my battle to get the re-caps out of the fleet.

2% mpg isnt much till you do the math,say 100k or in my case 200k in a year,and factor in the jump in fuel cost!!!!

Keep an eye on front end tread wear ,that $50 alinement / or balance is cheap .

If your in northeren In. Sam"s in Bristol do hundred's on dodges and they have there act together.

Ive replaced the ball joints twice on mine and suprisingly only need one re-alinement. And i've cought my fair share of pot holes even though my CB handle is Sidestep.