Tires - to rotate or not to rotate
I have Michelin PS2's on my car, and the front set are just about cooked (at least around the outside edges)... The rear seem to be fine. I'm wondering if I should:
a.) buy two new tires for the front
b.) buy two new tires, put the rears on the front, and the new on the rear
c.) buy no tires and simply rotate front to back
d.) buy four new tires (financially not desirable)
I autox and attend driver's schools - any input greatly appreciated.
For even wear, rotate your tires.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pinecone
I do NOT rotate tires, and BMW does not recomend rotating tires. Tires on each end wear differently and moving fronts to the back or vice versa can lead to vibration and seriously abnormal wear.
Every corner of a car's suspension coupled with a driver's style will impart unique wear characteristics to that corner's tire. Assuming the constants of correct tire pressure, properly functioning suspension, and correct alignment, I recommend the following:
- For cars with identical non-directional tires on all four corners, cross-rotate and rebalance them every 5K miles.
- For cars with directional tires, all of the same size, rotate front to rear and rebalance every 5K miles. Alternatively, you may dismount, cross-rotate, mount, and rebalance every 5K miles. This reverses the position of the "beauty side".
- For cars with directional tires that are a different size front and rear, check the balance every 5K miles. Alternatively, you may dismount, remount, and balance the left side tires to the right side which willl move the inside edge to the outside. This also reverses the position of the "beauty side".
Rotating your tires should be considered a maintenance item with the goal of providing the most mileage from the set. Cross-rotating a set of tires as decribed in Item 1 will place a given tire at each of the four corners and impart, over those 20K miles of its life, the most even wear.