AWD car needs a new tire; Replace one or all 4

i revise my position - you're a childish idiot.

:-[

a quick look at the carsdirect.com configurator revealed neither heavy duty nor police package for Jeep Liberty Sport

i thought police departments buy liberties in some volume that justifies for chrysler to offer heavy duty options

i could venture a guess the ubiquitous configurator carsdirect just does not offer them because police departments hardly ever buy online

That is sad, the XJ Cherokee had both HD suspension options and a police prep package...

That said some vehicles likely don't have those options and therefore I don't consider them

nate

You've again pegged the hypocrisy meter. Has your stifling pretentiousness no bounds? That's quite the biting condescension coming from a proven "intellectual colossus" such as yourself. I defer to you and your expertise, replete with multiple proofs of concept, as the expert on childish idiocy. You truly epitomize the very concept of confused.

But by all means, forgive me if I have in any manner tread upon your fraudulent high brow approach and injured or damaged your oh so delicate sensibilities.

PS don't let me stop you, do by all means keep digging that hole.

And the answer is, no, they do not necessarily wear the same. Tire rotation is more important now, at least in some models, than it used to be.

tire rotation is only relevant on 4wd's. and even then, only for road-going 4wd's.

for 2wd's it's actually a bad idea because it ensures the tires are always impaired in the amount of rubber making contact - tires wear to their rotation sense and station on the vehicle, and in that position, rubber contact is maximized. when re-stationed, the tire's contact changes for each rubber block, and is much reduced. this easily seen with a simple experiment - drive over some chalked hdfb when the tires are worn, and you'll note full contact on each rubber block. repeat the exercise when rotated, and you'll see some of the rubber blocks are only partially chalked - contact area is reduced by 30% or more in some cases. since traction [and therefore cornering and braking safety] is a function of contact area, this is an easy illustration of impairment caused by rotation.

now, tire manufacturers "recommend" tire rotation here in the u.s., but if you read their recommendation language carefully, you'll notice that that language is entirely concerned with two things:

1. legal c.y.a.
2. the fact that they can't compel car owners to keep the vehicle properly maintained and aligned. or even compel manufacturers to design their cars properly.

the result is, rotation means that they can't be sued because regular rotation means compliance with the legal inertia that set sail back in the days of bias ply tires. and it also means that common misalignment, inflation problems or even design problems are masked. as we have seen with firestone and frod, it's all too easy for a vehicle manufacturer to blame a tire manufacturer for things which are entirely not the tire's fault.