When should tyres be rotated?
 

Guys, I've almost done 5,000 miles in my car now. Should I be thinking about swapping the fronts and rears round, or is it not worth it.

Tyres are standard 17" RE050 that came with the car.

Anyone?

Good practice is every oil change - so now!

And, if they are not directional you should chnage them diagonally

I would advise caution on swapping tyres front to rear as front and rear tyres wear differently and so swapping can result in significant reduction in grip - generally on rear end ;) as amount of rubber in contact is reduced due to rounded wear pattern.

However, to balance that argument, if one end wears out first and only two tyres are replaced you get a larger disparity in grip levels.

I'm not saying swapping tyres is good or bad - just offering a warning for those who are unaware.

Graham

Cheers guys. RE050 are directional I think. I will check though.

I'll have a look to see how well they're coping and decide if I'm going to swap or not.

You may also need to get them checked for balancing.

The rears are not always balanced.:)

Why wouldn't you balance rears? Surely they can suffer the same problems as fronts when not balanced? This would seem to suggest that balancing only helps for wheels that turn (in a horizontal plane). I thought balancing was because a wheel and tyre may not have consistent density and therefore can cause problems when rotating (ie any wheel rotates).

Be careful.

If the suspension runs lots of camber on the front compared to the rear you will have big problems.
If the car were, say, an X Type Jag, then the move front to rear,rear to front (directional tyres) then all will be well as the geometry is not radical.

I have swopped mine round on my highly modified Sti v3, but camber is the same front and rear.

Graham.

The car is an MY05 WRX. I have no idea if it runs a lot of camber or not. I suspect not.

The car and wheels have not had any geometry or wheel balancing done other than whatever gets done when it leaves the factory.

Then i think you are ok to move them round.
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