tire rotation

[thunderlumber]

what is the proper tire rotation pattern for 4wd with radial tires? my ranger owners manual (08) says to to go crisscross and front to back so every tire ends up on a different corner every four rotations, but when i take it to have them rotated, i'm always told it's unsafe to do it this way because of the possiblility of tread damage if the tires aren't always spinning the same direction, and that front to back, back to front on either side is safer. which is correct?

 

[Toms01PSD]

If you're driving forward...all four wheels are spinning the same direction. I don't understand how criss-crossing is going to damage the tread. Unless you have directional tires you can criss cross em or do front to back. If you're owners manual tells you to criss cross them, then criss cross them.

 

[Tony Raine]

every owners manual i've seen since 84 shows front/back rotation only for radial tires, and criss-cross for bias ply.

you can cross-rotate radials if you really want to (like if you have a messed up alignment that makes one side wear faster). they will just wear out faster.

something about the radial tread "deforms" in one direction when you drive thousands of miles on them. cross rotation makes the tires spin the opposite direction than before. the tires wear faster "getting used to" the new direction. at least thats how its been explained to me, i'm definitely no expert though

 

[88rangerboy]

I've always been told rotate radials front to back only. I used to work in Wal-Mart's tire department and they're policy would only allow us to rotate front to back.

 

[Mac]

Just doing the front to back was before the tire technology got to where it is today. Before if you swapped side to side, very likely to get tread separation due to the opposite tire rotational direction. Both my '98' and '05' show the criss-cross as the preferred direction. another reason to read your owners manual, kind of like using the right lube in the transmission.
Dave - Learned something today!

 

[ranger_mclaren]

I've always been told rotate radials front to back only. I used to work in Wal-Mart's tire department and they're policy would only allow us to rotate front to back.

No pun intended, but the wal-mart here doesn't know crap and I would never trust them with my truck or car they have had so many lawsuits from improperly changing tires and oil. I don't know how they stay in buiness lots of horror stories from there a bunch of retarded monkeys could do better.

 

[kerry]

Back in the days when Radial Tires were just coming into common use, the belts would "take a set" in the direction of rotation. If you rotated to the other side of the vehicle, they would be turning "backward" and the belt would "wiggle" and ultimately destroy the tire. Happened a lot back in the
'70s but I haven't heard of it happening on new tires. Follow the tire manufacturer's recommendation & you should be fine.