I took my 2024 ES350 in yesterday for state inspection and 10,000 mile service (it actually has 5460 miles) but it's 18 months old now. This was the second tire rotation. The first was in August at 3500 miles. I asked the service tech if they were going to use the forward cross or X pattern and he said no, the front to rear. He offered to do the forward cross or X pattern if I wanted but I decided to do the front to rear this time and investigate further for future rotations.

What are your thoughts on the best method for my FWD ES?

 

Many tires have directional thread designed to operate best in one direction and can only be rotated front to back to maintain optimum designed performance and traction.
You need to examine the sidewall of your tires to determine if they contain a rotation direction arrow.
The old X method is only for tires that are non-directional as it reverses the rotation of the tires.

 

The owner's manual recommends front to rear.

 

Front to rear, yes.

 

For most even wear of non directional tires, fronts go straight back, and rears go to front- opposite side.

 

The US and Canadian Owner's Manual does; however, the UK Owner's Manual has this tire rotation illustration:
UK tire rotation

 

This is best for even wear of all tires. Just going front to back, or an “X” rotation means each tire spends time at only 2 corners, where as the above method means each tire will spend equal time at all 4 corners with consistent rotations.
Just takes a few more minutes. I jack up the back first, rotate the rears, then rotate front to back.

 

Wonder why the US Lexus Owner's Manual recommends the forward-rear rotation pattern. Neither Bridgestone's Tire Rotation: How and Why to Rotate Your Tires or Michelin's Tire rotation: How and why to rotate your tires prefer/recommend that pattern except for directional tires; instead, for front wheel drive non-directional tire rotation both recommend what Bridgestone terms the "forward cross" pattern (the UK Owner's Manual pattern):
I thought we were long past the days of worrying about directional radial tires and there's no US regulation I can find dictating a tire rotation pattern.

P.S. Bridgestone does recommend the forward-rear rotation pattern for "high performance" tires but Bridgestone doesn't classify the Lexus ES OEM Bridgestne Turanza EL 440 as a "high performance" tire.

 

I don’t know why Lexus recommends simple front to back rotation when it’s not best for tire longevity. Maybe they’re afraid anything else would confuse their techs.

 

Yes it might be the best for wear but sometimes cross rotation might cause a pull left or right that wasn't there before the rotation. Been there at times with the effect and had to rotate them same side.

 

Tires should always be rotated side to side. This distributes curb rash to all four wheels.

 

Discount Tire does forward cross

 

 

your tires are going to last so incredibly long on this type of car that it's not too big of a deal. just rotate front to back and swap out every 5k. maybe 7k if you have a busy life.

all this does is extend the life of your tires as a set

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "swap out". Swap sides?