autodriver

What direction should use for Tire Rotation?

PERRYinLA

Some tires are marked with an arrow labeled "rotation direction", like my Dunlops, so in such a case you must keep them on the same side of the car and only move them forward or backward. Otherwise it is not critical where you rotate or how often you do it, as long as you keep an eye on tire wear (invest in a thread depth gauge) and if they are wearing unevenly, move them around.

Some of our cars are notorious for wearing out the inner edges of our tires before the outers (negative camber). Rotating helps, but no matter where you put the tires the inner edge remains the inner edge, unless you want to spend the dough to remount and rebalance the (non-directional) tires.

VVT-i

Front to back every 5k is the best way to go. The 5 tires( with spare) and the X-rotate is just a headache and hard to keep up.

Lexmex

Depends on the tires.

I used to rotate them with fronts crossing to the back, and the rears going directly ahead. My CTXs only lasted about 30K. I am now going just front to back on the same sides and will let CL members know what me experiences are, especially given the crummy streets I have down here. Incidentally, I align my tires every month, as they can get really whacked down here.

VVT-i

Dang, Lexmex that a lot of alignment.Do you really mean 4 wheels alignment once a month?

Lexmex

Yes, I have the 4 wheel drive, and those 4 wheels get rotated every 1st of the month. When I first came south of the border, I went about three months without an alignment, and I could feel it. I was losing MPG, and the tires felt funny. When I switched from OEM Goodyears to Michellin Cross-Terrains, I immediately felt a difference. However, the guy who did the alignment had been doing this work for about 30 years with different types of alignment machines, and noticed it was way off target before he did the alignment. He had my Lexus in his computer, so it was no problem.

Most cars here in Mexico City suffer (because people cannot afford to pay for an alignment except for once a year) and the cars really suffer with the streets here. Potholes much bigger than those that can exist in NYC. No matter how fast or how slow you drive, 90% of the time you have no choice and cannot go around these things. In addition, I am told we have more speed bumps than anywhere in the world.

Not a big issue, just costs me about $8 US each time with the LED alignment system, since I bought the tires from the guy.

Thanks for asking, I know it seems excessive.

VVT-i

Thanks for the info Lexmex and the price is really cheap compare to $100.00 alignment here in U.S.