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Tires: rotating, pressure, wear

Awl --

Some shops rotate tires just front to back, others do the cris-cross. Is there a preferred way? I would think a purist or fanatic would rotate more frequently as well, and include left to right as well. How to keep track, tho.....

I over-inflate my tires, but notice no un-even wear pattern in a given tire. I figured if I saw the middle wearing faster than the sides, this would be proof of over-inflation, so I'm led to believe my over-inflation (a 35# tire to 40, maybe 45) is not excessive. Is this assessment correct?

I calculated some time ago that the diff in pressure between a cold tire and a hot tire should be about 10%, but never got around to measuring this. Does this sound about right?

Lastly, in a rear-wheel drive vehicle (6 cyl '04 Frontier, crew, 6' bed, 4wd rarely used, no towing, about 1/2 of its miles loaded with 500-1000 lbs), which should wear faster, the front or the back, and by how much? And under what conditions? Highway/city driving, in/about NYC. My mechanic can't remember if he rotated the tires or not, and I noticed quite a bit of difference in the wear between front/back, after 40,000 mi.

In a front wheel drive vehicle, for sure it would be the front, as they do both the accelerating and the bulk of the braking, but in rear wheel drive, the tasks are divided.

tia

Reply to
Existential Angst
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Where I buy my tires they rotate for free and keep track of it on their computer. They recommend every 5000 miles but I rarely get it done that often. I think some car manufacturers recommend rotating one way and others another way. I usually just rotate front to back and do not include the spare in the rotation because it's almost never the same kind of tire and it's just a plain, steel wheel. If the tires are wearing in the middle then they are probably overinflated. If they wear only on the inside or outside edge on the front then it's probably a good idea to have the alignment and shocks etc. checked. My front tires always wear more quickly than the rear and by rotating I end up getting more mileage from them overall.

Reply to
Ulysses

I was told it's not good to cross tires as the steel belts can get twisted. Maybe this is old school thinking.

Reply to
CEG

It probably reduces handling capabilities a bit but should improve gas mileage and wear. I'd be hesitant to inflate them higher then the max listed on the sideway however. Making them too hard can make it easier for stuff you run over to bruise/damage the tire. OTOH, if it's been working for you.....

Sounds about right as a ballpark.

Whether it's rear of front drive it's almost always going to be the front tires that wear the most due to the slop in the steering linkage and the wear from steering and the wear from braking (the fronts do between 70 to 90% of the brake effort).

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

it's impossible to do that anyway on many modern tires as more and more tires have directional tread patterns. Unless you also dismount them from the rims...

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Never go over the max pressure listed on the sidewall of the tire. It is the maximum the tire is designed to take & refers to a "cold" tire. It basically means "go above this in a cold tire & it may pop".

The pressure listed on the door jamb of the car/truck (or in the glove box) is usually less and is a compromise to get a mix of a comfortable ride and reasonable handling. That number can be experimented with a little, but don't go over the tire sidewall number.

Its a friction thing. A good rule of thumb is the tire will show 2-4 pounds more when hot.

Reply to
E. Meyer

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