Tire rotation question

[BBQdDude]

Question when rotating tires. Example is a standard Honda Civic daily driver. When rotating tires do you diagonally rotate or rotate them from front to back on the same side? I always thought it was diagonal. Had somebody tell me today they sometimes rotate them from front to back on the same side. Tires in question had no noticeable abnormal wear to them or uneven depth to them. All four wheels are the same size and depth Thoughts?

[STEVE-O]

If they are not directional rotate the rear to the front , then cross the 2 from the front to the back

[Cordell]

Supposed to cross rotate them, an awful lot of techs go straight front to back. It’s not the end of the world either way, it’s a much bigger deal that tires get on the other axle.

[POS VETT]

I go with front to back to minimize feathering; this pattern is for my rear-biased AWD car that have unidirectional, equally-constructed sidewalls, symmetrical tread, and non-staggered sizes.

 

All of my RWD cars have staggered sizes and their tires are rotated side to side which may involve flipping the tires if needed to maximize tread life.

 

I now have a couple of FWD cars that got me thinking about a different rotation pattern which will be dictated by the feathering pattern if any.

 

In the case of your Civic, it seems that there is no mechanical advantage of rotating them since they all have uniform wear pattern. Keep them away from damage, keep them balanced, and keep them aired right.

[Cordell]

 

In the case of your Civic, it seems that there is no mechanical advantage of rotating them since they all have uniform wear pattern. Keep them away from damage, keep them balanced, and keep them aired right.

 

Especially on a FWD car if they are not rotated then the front will wear much faster. On most FWD cars the rear tend to feather and cup if left on the rear for longer periods of time.

 

If you wear out the fronts, and then just replace 2, you’re bound to have mismatched tires. Then the rears are old and outdated, usually in half ass condition when the fronts are good. If you buy all 4 you wasted alot of the original rears.

 

For the best ride, and performance of any car, rotate the tires, and replace in sets. If you want to get the most out of you investment (the car) then quality proper tires, and tire maintenance, go a long way toward keeping stress off other components and make the car have the traction and ride it was designed to have.

 

In short don’t be cheap and lazy. When I get cars with mismatched tires and general signs of a cheap owner bringing their car to me, especially on a ride quality concern, you can be sure I’ll price a whole set of tires, and anything else that car might need. I could care less to deal with people like that, they can take their car to some cheap aftermarket shop and gjve them headaches.

 

/rant

[TurboRust]

i've always been told cross the non drive to the drive wheels

so fwd rears get crossed while heading forward fronts go straight back. This makes each tire only be on each corner 25% of the time(to account for open diffs/toque, unadjustable alignment angles, uneven corner weight etc)

[aussiek2000]

i've always been told cross the non drive to the drive wheels

so fwd rears get crossed while heading forward fronts go straight back. This makes each tire only be on each corner 25% of the time(to account for open diffs/toque, unadjustable alignment angles, uneven corner weight etc)

 

This is how I rotate

[BBQdDude]

Thank you all for the responses.