Tire Rotation Scheme for Toyota

Neither is incorrect.

Rotation pattern depends on the kind of tires you have. With directional tires you can only move them front to back and vice versa unless you dismount the tires from the wheels.

With non directional tires, you can criss-cross and this is recommended to compensate for road conditions (if you drive the same route over and over with particular inclinations, slants, turns; think someone who makes mostly right turns) and to compensate for differences in camber adjustments. In this case the Bridgestone suggested pattern fits well.

Good luck!

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:

"Rin Tin^2 >>>" criss-crossing.

If you have a full size spare (like I do) you would like to get it into the mix. With a criss-cross scheme one of the tires ends up as the spare and all the others get their turn at each of the wheel locations. MLD

Whatever your owner's manual says. The dealer will rotate your tires according to their documentation. It probably has something to do with the weight distribution of the vehicle and the manufacturer would know best. Of course this doesn't preclude you from doing what YOU think is best.

It also depends on the type of tire. If they're DIRECTIONAL, they can only be rotated front to rear. Unless of course, you want them unmounted and remounted. Of course, I fon't know if they're brand new from toyota tires in which case they wouldn't likely be rotational.

The cris-cross thing came from back when tires were bias ply and need to be criscrossed to get them to wear out at about the same time. Cars have 4wheel alignment available and, as long as you're keeping up with alignment, they don't REALLY even need to be rotated at all unless unless you're heavy on the gas and wear the drive tires out faster.

Rin Tin^2 front tires straight back, with the rear tires going straight up. No

What the Toyota manual says.

Jeff

Why unmount & remount directional tires?

The only way to put them on the opposite side of the car is to unmount them and reverse them on the rim. There's not a good reason to do it. If your car is so far out of alignment that you MUST cris-cross your tires, you've no need for directional tires.

Oh...OK. I was thinking only of moving them from front to back. Never mind.

"Rin Tin^2 >>>" criss-crossing.

The standard tire rotation scheme for cars is front-to back.

The dealer got it right if you have directional tires. You can tell by looking at the sidewall. If there's an arrow indicating the direction of rotation, it's directional. I tried looking up your original equipment tire but couldn't get a clear answer.

Otherwise, the best rotation pattern is fronts straight back and criss- cross the rears to the front. This would put every tire in every position eventually (LF to LR to RF to RR). If you don't have directional tires then the dealer just did what was easy for him. It's not awful, but since changing sides also changes the direction of rotation, it's best at reducing irregular wear.

Almost everyone makes mostly right turns due to highway ramps.