4- vs 5-tyre Rotation

I am now going to use the forward cross 5-tyre rotation from Tire Rack but will be inverted because of our right-hand drive use. I think the site has a 6 tyre dually option which can somewhat be used for 6-tyre applications.
 
According to that pic, a rearward cross would be more suitable,, as you are closer to 4wd than fwd.

For a 6 wheel rotate, you;d be better off folowing the 4 wheel rotate, but instead moving one pair (probably rear would be optimal) to the spare pair, then the spare pair taking the place of the ones you have swapped them with (in the rotation cycle that is, not where the other ones came off)
 
Spare in wheel well to rear lhs, spare on rear carrier to rear rhs, rear rhs to front lhs, rear lhs to front rhs, front rhs to external carrier, front lhs to wheel well.
About every 5000 kms.
Seems to work for me.
 
I wonder what the difference between doing a rearward cross compared to a frontward cross is when it comes to wear?
I presume it's something to do with which wheels do the most driving.
 
Ben Up North said:
I wonder what the difference between doing a rearward cross compared to a frontward cross is when it comes to wear?
I presume it's something to do with which wheels do the most driving.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that the front tyres will always wear more because of turning corners. In Aus with RHD it's the LF that wears most followed by RF. In US with LHD it's vice versa. Therefore the LF goes to the rear to give it a rest and allow the other tyres to catch up in a 4 tyre rotation. In a 5 tyre rotation it goes to the spare.
 
That makes sense.
So going by that theory, I should be putting both fronts to the spares and crossing the rears to the front.

e;g:
FL -> Spare 1
FR -> Spare 2
RL -> FR.
RR -> FL.
SP1 -> RL.
SP2 -> RR.
which is exactly what ateday is doing.

But I still don't understand the difference between (in a 4 wheel rotation, and therefore also a 6) crossing the fronts to the backs v crossing the backs to the fronts.

Plus.. why is it different between FWD and 4wd/RWD (perhaps they group 4WD & RWD together because traditionally a 4wd is Rwd on the road?)

And then... where does AWD fit into the mix.? As my SG forester is a nominal 50/50 split does stage where the tyres are crossed become irrelevent?
 
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It might be irrelevant if you had 4 wheel steering too. :)

Turning corners uses a lot more rubber than going in a straight line. All wheel drive evens out the wear on the driven wheels but the front ones will always wear more quickly on any vehicle unless it's rear wheel drive and the driver has a heavy right foot (or uses the handbrake to do U turns. :rotfl:
 
I do a 6 wheel rotation on both cars - I just check tread depth and wear pattern then decide which wheel goes where. For the Foz the best tyres go on the front; for the Triton the best tyres go on the rear because they will wear faster (I know this goes against some who say always put the best on the front for better steering but I don't let my tyres get too bad before replacing them)
 
I guess the whole object of the exercise is to allow all tyres to wear out both evenly and at the same time.
A bonus is that it makes you check each tyre every rotation interval and solve any small problems before they become BIG problems. Also a mini brake check as well by observing the black dust build up on the rims.
 
Having considered everything, I'm staying with what I started with, cross front to rears, rears to spares, spares to font.

That way, the tyres with the least wear(? Most rested??!) end up at the front.
Sort of.
every second rotation or something.

haven't thought that hard about it.


Either that or I've thought too hard about it.
 
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