Tyre rotation question

[R3223R]

Hi,

I have a tyre related question and hope someone on the forum can help answering. I have a 2007 R32 which was serviced by independents for the past few years. On several occassions, I asked them to rotate the front and rear tyres for me and on all occassions, they said they can do it but it is not recommended and may cause handling problems. I never understood the reason behind it. Is it something to do with the haldex 4WD? If so, why would rotating the tyres matter?

Thanks in advance.

[wai]

Tyre rotation isused to even out tyre wear, but there are many different schools of thought around this.

In the days of cross ply or bias belted tyres, there was no disadvantage as the cross plies meant the tyre was essentially the same rotating either way. With radial ply tyres, the radial plies can take a set which means that when asked to rotate the other way, there will be some increased wear as the radial plies adjust to the different rotation.

Then there is the rotation pattern. With radials, if you do rotate the tyres, they should only be front to rear on the same side of the car. With cross plys, you normally do them in a diagonal pattern.

When driving on the left, the camber of the road will see some increased wear on the outside of the front tyres, and swapping them with the rears will even things out a bit. Also with FWD cars, you are doing the majority of the braking, plus the steering and driving with the front wheels. As for the 4WD versions, they are generally FWD with 4WD on demand. Unless you are driving off road, chances are you will not be getting the rears to do any driving.

So whether you do it or not is up to you. These days, there is little difference either way. You may have to replace the fronts sooner than the rears, but then if you do rotate them you will be replacing them all 4 at the same time.

[R3223R]

Thanks for the response. I forgot to mention in my original post that I want to rotate front and back tyres only as they are directional. I still can't see the reason why it would affect the handling and not recommended. All I want is to even out the wear on the front and back.

[wai]

There should be no problem to even out the wear.

[ExRexer]

I rotated the tyres on my R32 today. Think I waited a bit too long

Now the tyres are pretty noisy, I have found a nail in one, and I have some alignment issues

Think I better start looking for some new tyres.

[maxrob200]

I had the same problem with my Bora, the tyres were "feathered" so they were really noisy after rotation from front to back