discomikey Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 i swapped all the wheels round on dads D4 today just to keep the tyre tread even as the front left has had a bit of a hammering from roundabouts. so i did it like i normally would. front left to back right, front right to back left. and rear left to front left, rear right to front right. then the person i do labouring work for comes into the yard and says that your not supposed to run a tyre in the opposite direction from what it has done since it was put on, apparently it could delaminate. i carnt see how this works at all, as its a round tyre, not a remould. so i says to him im not sure about that. i could possibly see why with a remould but then again i think it would be very unlikely. the only time i can see swapping them from one side to another is a problem is if they were directional and they would end up backwards. can someone shed me some light on this subject? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 If that were the case wouldn't you need to carry two spare tyres (one for eachside) or at least make sure you replaced your spare tyre with a brand new one after each use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomikey Posted April 14, 2012 Author Share Posted April 14, 2012 i get the feeling its an old myth from times where it may have been slightly more possible with the older tyre generations Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 No mention of tyre delamination here http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=43 and they seem to have worked out every possible tyre rotation scheme ....... They also seem to have written more about swapping your tyres than you would think was possible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 only time you can't swap tyres from different sides if when the tyre is Directional & the sidewall should be stamped with a arrow pointing the way the tyre should rotate when fitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miketomcat Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Crossply tyres (at least race slicks) have to be put on a certain way round. Different ways for front, rear and four wheel drive this because if you get it wrong you peel the tyres apart. Radials don't have this problem unless directional and that's a grip thing. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudmagnet Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 tyre fitters have always marked tyres for rotation when they have removed tyres for puncture repair for me and these wernt directional tyres, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomikey Posted April 15, 2012 Author Share Posted April 15, 2012 cheers for confirming that. will tell boss hes an idiot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Not withstanding all the above, IIRC, the recommended "rotation" policy for LR's is front to rear on the same side of the vehicle. I stand to be corrected on that, my memory being what it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diff Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 It is my understanding that modern road tyres are not supposed to be swapped from one side to the other because the rubber takes on a 'set' in terms of the tread wear. Although not immediately obvious with a casual glance, the tread wears in a certain way due to the characteristics of the directional load (tread blocks can wear to a different height front to rear for example). Vehicle manufacturers and tyre fitters recommend that the tyres should only be swapped on the same side because the tyres 'may' cause handling problems when swapped to the 'other side'. There 'may' also be accelerated wear to the tread when tyres are swapped to the other side. Regards, Diff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Does this not create an issue with rotating the spare also? I have seen a wear difference between the front and back of tread blocks, you see it far more pronounced on the front wheel of a motorbike, especially on sports bikes. I had assumed this was caused by aggressive braking and with a car assumed regular swapping of wheels diagonally would balance this wear out. You live and learn eh, although I would say I have never had a tyre delaminate on me. Cheers for the info Diff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baeau Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Here's my 2p from a few thousand miles away. In a former life, I peddled Yokohama race tyres (slicks & radials) here in the US. I was told by the engineesr to rotate front to back / same side only. It was not an issue of the rubber taking a set. It is the "belts" (steel or otherwise) that take the set. Cornering loads on a tyre, push the tread inboard. I can't remember all the detail of what happens to the sidewalls. After some running, every tyre shifts a bit & settles in. Move the trye anywhere else, you reverse load & rotation. "Supposedly" reversing the load through the tyre, can lead to failures. For all it's worth, I have seen it happen. Every few weekends a low budget racer needed to replace one tyre, buy didn't want to buy a new set. They would grab one of their rotation marked tyres (we alway identified the location/direction when we mounted them), & not care where they fitted it. Several times, I witnessed major carcass failures of the misplaced tyre. Several times, cars were written off. These were not pure race chassis, they were "Showroom Stock" class cars, running Yokohama's high performance street rubber. Cheers, Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Does this not create an issue with rotating the spare also? Unless you use it for long periods, i wouldnt think that most people have it on long enough for it to matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayresy Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 as long as there is no directional indicator on the tyre for which way it has to go there should be no problem in rotating them, and swapping sides makes sense to even the wear over the tyres front-back and side-side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacr2man Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 My 2/100p as a tyre dealer (ex) for 12 years , directionality retention when swapping tyres is purely a life mileage selection , unless the tyre mandates directionality therefore no choice ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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