Tyre Rotation

[GrumpyJohn]

Thought about rotating my tyres to even wear as fronts are wearing a bit quicker than rears however after talking to my tyre guy and researching on internet it appears to be not as easy as I first thought. 

It would seem tpms sensors have to be relearnt to their new positions once tyres have been rotated and a “tool” is needed to do this. It's not just a case of resetting on the dash as you do when adjusting tyre pressures.  Otherwise the tyres have to be removed from rims and swapped around but keeping the rims in the same locations which is a costly exercise and not worth doing.

Has anyone any experience of this. Tyre rotation seems to be a thing of the past now and little done these days.

[Edge of Reason]

If you rotate the tyres, you end up eventually replacing all four at the same time. I’ve got 20” tyres, so that’s £800 or thereabouts. No thanks. I’ll stick to doing them pairs 

[Jonnyboyo24]

In my opinion tyre rotation is only done by taking them off the alloys.  A lot of tyres are directional or outside facing rim so this complicates things further. In my experience the rears on my cars last 2-3 times longer than fronts (this only applies to front wheel drive) so I replace in pairs and get the tracking checked every time I go in for a new pair.

When the rears wear out and the fronts still have tread I get the garage to remove the front tyre and put them on the rears and have the fresh boots put on front. 

[TomsFocus]

I made a terrible mistake rotating the tyres on my Focus...  The fronts had worn more on the outer edges due to steering, the rears on the inner edges due to camber...swapping them over didn't even out the wear but instead caused a lot of road noise and weird unstable feeling.  I ended up replacing all 4 together in the end.  Haven't rotated any since!

 

With regards to directional tyres, you can swap them front to rear as long as they stay on the same side of the car.  I wouldn't recommend swapping non-directionals to the other side anyway, as the majority of the torque will then be in the opposite direction causing more fatigue on the tyre structure. 

[DAVEWILL5]

When i first replaced the front 2 tyres on my 2018 Edge Sport, i had the garage move the new front wheels / tyres to the back, and put the part worn back wheels /tyres on the front

For the first half an hour or so of driving the tyre pressure monitor system was all over the place, giving weird readings from all tyres.

I eventually took the car to the garage that i always use to check tyre pressure and top up as necessary, and put the correct pressure (according to the air machine reading) into all 4 tyres.

From then on the pressure came up exactly as it should on the dash readings, and i have never had a problem since

On saying that the next time i had the front 2 tyres replaced, the new tyres remained on the front wheels

Also i always drive with the tyre pressure settings showing on the dash, its just one of those things that gives me a safe feeling, knowing all the tyre pressures are what they should be. 

[GrumpyJohn]

Hi,  Thanks for your input and experience details. Ive not done rotations with my previous cars and looks to me its not worth the hassle of tyre rotations these days and wont bother. Take care and happy driving.

[peltertentpole]

I rotate mine every 6k or so. Time consuming but worth it I feel. I have a late 2017 build st and my TPMS adjusts automatically to each corner. I always move in a X pattern.

 

[Ian Lanc]

I used to rotate my tyres every month on my old Escort RS2000.