Rotating the tyres...yay or nay?

[Jude Starr]

So, my car is booked in for it's first service next week (where has that 15,000ks gone? ). They recommend getting the tyres rotated, but to tell the truth I am a bot conflicted about this. I have read differeing opinions in various forums about whether it is a good idea to rotate the tyres at all, the concept being that each corner wears in a different way, so to rotate them to different positions may affect performance/handling, even though it undoubtedly lets the tyres last longer.

What I want to know is what others here think/do about tyre rotation...

[Dec540]

It makes sense that they wear differently so there might be a small amount of grip lost by rotating. I doubt you would notice that tiny amount of loss in a 123d on the street if the tyres are rotated regularly.

[Jeef Beef]

Do you have M-sport? I'm assuming not cos M-sport have staggered tyre sizes which are non-rotatable.

The grip difference would be negligible, definitely offset by the extended tyre life. Having an overly worn tyre will always mean less grip than a freshly rotated one.

[Boxtyp3]

If you have a stagerred setup you cannot rotate your tires.

[Addict...Nah Im A Junkie!]

Originally Posted by Boxtyp3

If you have a stagerred setup you cannot rotate your tires.

Not necessarily true, it would require more work though since you will need to dismount the tires and then remount to get them spinning in the right direction (if the tires are uni-directional).

[MFKN3]

You can have the tyres removed and swapped to the opposite side rims. You get a fair bit more life out of them if you run neg camber, but since the wear pattern is reversed, you will get vibration at high speed as the wear-in. The trick is to get it down, drive it for 1,000-2,000km then get them re-balanced as they develop their correct wear pattern.

[tyorll]

Originally Posted by Jeef Beef

Do you have M-sport? I'm assuming not cos M-sport have staggered tyre sizes which are non-rotatable.

The grip difference would be negligible, definitely offset by the extended tyre life. Having an overly worn tyre will always mean less grip than a freshly rotated one.

What he said.

If you have a staggered tyre setup you cannot simply rotate the wheels. If the tyres are bi-directional, you'd need to dismount all the tyres and remount them which requires more work. If they are unidirectional there probably isn't any way you can do this and it work out to be beneficial. Unless your rear tyres are the same size as your front tyres despite different rim sizes which would be unusual.

[Boxtyp3]

Originally Posted by Addict...Nah Im A Junkie!

Not necessarily true, it would require more work though since you will need to dismount the tires and then remount to get them spinning in the right direction (if the tires are uni-directional).

If you have unidirectional tires, you can't rotate. If you have multi/bidirectional tires, then it's possible. Only problem is that most of the tires in our specs are unidirectional. That's the assumption that I have on my original post.

[Addict...Nah Im A Junkie!]

Originally Posted by Boxtyp3

If you have unidirectional tires, you can't rotate. If you have multi/bidirectional tires, then it's possible. Only problem is that most of the tires in our specs are unidirectional. That's the assumption that I have on my original post.

Can't they be taken off and remounted facing the other side though?

[Jude Starr]

Originally Posted by Jeef Beef

Do you have M-sport? I'm assuming not cos M-sport have staggered tyre sizes which are non-rotatable.

Oh yeah, didn't even think of that (sorry, my brain hasn't been operating at full revs this week! ). Yes, it has the M Sport pack, so of course the back tyres are wider than the front. Doh! *Mental head slap* Apologies for wasting your time, but thanx for the replies all!!

[Jeef Beef]

Originally Posted by Jude Starr

Oh yeah, didn't even think of that (sorry, my brain hasn't been operating at full revs this week! ). Yes, it has the M Sport pack, so of course the back tyres are wider than the front. Doh! *Mental head slap* Apologies for wasting your time, but thanx for the replies all!!

Like the others have said, you'll only be able to rotate them left to right (if they're bi-directional) which sorta isn't worth the effort.

[Jude Starr]

Originally Posted by Jeef Beef

Like the others have said, you'll only be able to rotate them left to right (if they're bi-directional) which sorta isn't worth the effort.

Yep, not worth the bother.

[Boxtyp3]

Originally Posted by Addict...Nah Im A Junkie!

Can't they be taken off and remounted facing the other side though?

I don't think you can coz the inside would be on the outside if you switch from left to right and vice versa.

[MFKN3]

Sorry, can only swap asymmetric tyres obviously

[MickyD]

I'm going to go against the grain here.... you CAN rotate left to right, since the tyres are assymetrical, not directional (the RE050a's anyway). My front tyres were feathering a bit, so I swapped them left to right to even out the feathering (they obviously rotate in the opposite direction when you swap them). Just be sensible for the first few hundred K's and you'll be fine.

[TimMc]

Originally Posted by MickyD

I'm going to go against the grain here.... you CAN rotate left to right, since the tyres are assymetrical, not directional (the RE050a's anyway). My front tyres were feathering a bit, so I swapped them left to right to even out the feathering (they obviously rotate in the opposite direction when you swap them). Just be sensible for the first few hundred K's and you'll be fine.

That's what I do with my KU36 track tyres on my spare 261s.