Thread: Tyre rotation pattern? Including the spare.

Gave up rotating tyres years and years ago, found it to be a false economy......... don't use front drive cars either. With those the rears age out. Had a real Cooper S many years ago and and Renault 16TS, and "de-restricted" signs (age is showing) The rear tyres on those never got to age out. Fronts had relatively short life. Rears moved forward, new on the rear.

If one rotates tyres they all come close to wearing out at the same time. At around $400 approx for good LTs that is $1600+ in one hit. To my mind 1/2 of that is a better outcome, across three cars. :0) Having said that I run 6 wheels for the Deffie. Replaced four last year, so will shortly turf the "aged" spares and add two new steer tyres. and move everything rearwards.

Something important to note with modern radials and LTs, these are especially prone to taking on a "set" and one should not change sides, direction of rotation. The "set" changed can affect wear rate, and "squirm" and "cornering force", leading to steering appearing off centre, and vibration, neither of which can be (really) corrected with an alignment or a balance. Both will drift as the tyre/s take up a new "set" over time. (This has nothing to do with asymmetric tread tyres which shouldn't be swapped sides for other reasons)

Hope this differing view on tyre rotation is of some assistance.

Cheers

Rick F

Radials do take on a "set" but you only really feel it on the front. You can move them to the rear and reverse the direction and then they wear in to their new rotation direction. That's the thing with radials, the ply layers always move.

You do increase the life of the tyres in general by rotating them, is it really a false economy? Instead of buying two at a time, you are buying 4, so it's a greater expense, but over the life of the car, if you keep it more than 2 or 3 sets of tyres, you actually spend less as you are buying maybe 8 tyres over ~150,000kms instead of 10 or 12 over ~220-240,000kms instead of 16.

It's not just rotations you need to keep up, it's wheel alignments as well, having the alignment at least checked at every rotation extends tyre life too.

About to fit the 4th set of tyres to the D4..

To be fair, factory set came off at 5k and all worn to within 0.25mm of each other (except spare of course)

2nd set came off and are now on the camper - ALL (except spare) had 5mm tread regardless of position.

3rd set was 4 new and the spare from 2nd set put onto the road are now about to come off at 5mm of tread - all 4 tyres are within 0.5mm; excluding spare which is now on Camper.

Never once has this vehicle had a rotation, and only 3 wheel alignments in 105,000km.



I personally will never rotate a wheel into a situation where it is rotating opposite to its original position. Have seen several delaminate shortly thereafter (older model BFG especially seemed more prone) after a wheel rotation.

Hmm, just about as many opinions about this as there is about which oil is the best! There are many variables, but for me the first and most important step in extending tyre life is to regularly check and maintain the correct pressure. The 4 psi rule works for me, and I no longer bother to rotate the tyres. I find it difficult to establish just which is more important, as everybody's driving situation is different, so which one of several options works the best?

Originally Posted by Tombie

I personally will never rotate a wheel into a situation where it is rotating opposite to its original position. Have seen several delaminate shortly thereafter (older model BFG especially seemed more prone) after a wheel rotation.

Ditto.

I was warned years so not to reverse the direction of radials.
Supposedly the carcass and belts take a 'set' from the stresses, and what Mike described can happen due to the reversal of the stresses if you reverse the direction.

I've asked a few tyre fitters over the years and the older ones remember that being the advise in the early days as radials became the standard over bias belted tyres.


I had to rotate the Deefer tyres front to rear otherwise I would've been throwing the fronts away at half the miles of the rears.

Muddies seem to chop out quickly on a steer axle.

Originally Posted by Old Farang

Hmm, just about as many opinions about this as there is about which oil is the best! There are many variables, but for me the first and most important step in extending tyre life is to regularly check and maintain the correct pressure. The 4 psi rule works for me, and I no longer bother to rotate the tyres. I find it difficult to establish just which is more important, as everybody's driving situation is different, so which one of several options works the best?

In Hua Hin I would say brakes are more important than anything else on the vehicle!!

Originally Posted by Tombie

In Hua Hin I would say brakes are more important than anything else on the vehicle!!

The ARB bulbar helps a lot also! Sorry I missed you, not travelling too well lately.

Maybe in the early days of radials, but certainly not the case now. When I first started in the late 80's I was told the same thing, but as technologies developed, the construction of a radial tyre developed with them so that now it doesn't matter if you change the direction of a radial tyres rotation. I wouldn't do it on the front though as you will probably get a pull to one side, but once they have been on the rear for a while it doesn't matter.