I've searched through the archives for this group but couldn't find a definitive answer for my problem.
It has recently come time for my first tire rotation. The owners manual says to rotate the rear duallies side to side and the front tires side to side. It doesn't say anything about changing tire direction though. My dealership says if I want to rotate that way then I have to have all 6 of the tires dismounted and remounted/balanced to keep the rotation direction the same ($$$). My local tire shop, who I've been dealing with for years, says that maintaining the rotation direction isn't a consideration on modern radials - it's only a problem for much older tires.
So, I go in for the rotation at my Ford dealership and they rotate the FR to the RLO and the FL to the RRO and leave the two inner tires on the rear in place, unrotated. I have three problems with this:
1) This is only a 4 tire rotation and doesn't follow the owner's manual recommendations. 2) The rims sides are now switched - what was on the inside is now on the outside. I had brightly polished aluminium rims (standard equip on the model that I have) which are now badly pitted and stained with brake dust. I've spent considerable time and elbow grease trying to polish them back up but haven't had any luck. I can't imagine how bad this is going to look in a few years. 3) I've got conflicting advice on whether keeping the tire rotation direction fixed is required or not.I'm looking for some clarification here. Help!