Rotating Tires

I just rotated the tires on my '06 DC. I have a little under 20k on them. There was some controversy as to whether we should rotate them from front to back or diagonally. I ended up doing them the way I thought, but I won't say which way until I hear some thoughts from you guys.

So which is it....front to back or diagonal?

 

Owners manual says front to back.

 

If you are staring to get feathering a little then diag is the only way to go and i think that is the best way anyways

 

i always go front to back, and then every 6k miles, i'll go diagonal. never had a problem doing it either way though.

 

yep, and thats when you know its probably time for an alignment also.

 

true......but its just good idea to have an alignment check if you are having weird tire wear..........no sense in wearing a tire out if all thats needed is an alignment.

will.i.aint is pretty funny tho.

 

I'm gonna add my 2 cents here because this happened to me about a year ago with my wifes 2005 Tucson.

Took it to STS for an oil change and I knew it was about time to have the tires rotated since they hadn't been since the car was new. Odometer approx. 20,000 and the tires all had nice even wear.

Ok, I watched them rotate the tires and they did right passenger rear to front driver side (criss cross). I had aways done front to back. About two weeks later, my wife tells me that she can feel a vibration. Great. I look at the tires and they now have a real weird pattern on them and basically the tires are f'ed up and now need new ones. Ended up getting tires from another place and the guy there told me never to rotate them like that again. $400 for 4 Cooper rain tires. They are working out very nice so far with about 10,000 miles on them.

I don't know who is correct but I never had a problem like this before with any car because I always did front to back.

So, if you do the cris cross thing keep an eye on your tires for something like this.

 

front to back every 5k trust me that is best

 

I always do them front to back and the cardinal rule of thumb that I've been told over the years..... is because the tread/tire internals can build up a 'pattern' from traveling in a certain direction. Front to back keeps the tread in that same direction/pattern. When you upset that pattern - you can have problems (like you experienced).

 

I have always done front to back.....

 

Keep in mind some tires are directional. Not all terrains.
I do what ever I feel at the time. Front to back once or twice then criss cross pattern.

 

Thanks guys and gals. I ended up doing them diagonal and so far haven't had a problem, but I will keep an eye (and ear) out for any vibration.

I remember seeing that for front wheel drive toyota recommends moving the back to front and the front to the opposite back. For rear wheel drive it's front to back and back to the opposite front. For non-directional tires, it's diagonal.

I was still curious to see what everyone else was doing and if anyone had any bad experiences a certain way. After reading the responses, I'm sorry I did the diagonal now and just hope my tires are ok.

Thanks again.