Tire rotation on class B

[HawkTX]

I have a class B Ford Transit with two tires in the front and four in the back. After 10,000 miles there appears to be no wear. Unless there was wear on my class C RV I never rotated. Wondering what you guys do?

[avanti]

Originally Posted by HawkTX

I have a class B Ford Transit with two tires in the front and four in the back. After 10,000 miles there appears to be no wear. Unless there was wear on my class C RV I never rotated. Wondering what you guys do?

I never do routine tire rotation on any vehicle. Waste of time. If my tires aren't wearing evenly left-to-right, the suspension is broken and I get it fixed. As for front/rear wear differences, I just replace the tires in pairs, sometimes moving the old ones front to rear.

[RossWilliams]

I was told that for my Roadtrek Mercedes Sprinter there really was no acceptable rotation pattern because of the mix of aluminum and steel rims on the dual tires in the rear. Tire manufacturers recommend rotation for a reason, uneven wear is not always obvious.

My understanding is that all four dual back tires should be replaced at the same time and the two tires on one side really have to be replaced at the same time. So if one of the four wears out early, you have to replace all four. You probably should follow your vehicle and tire manufacturer's recommendations if you want to get the longest life from the tires.

[JohnnyFry]

I agree that with a dualy you should never rotate. In my Chevy 210P I rotate on a regular basis because the rear tires are loaded to nearly double the weight of the front.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by JohnnyFry

In my Chevy 210P I rotate on a regular basis because the rear tires are loaded to nearly double the weight of the front.

Why not just replace in pairs (front or back)? It is not important that tires on different axles match wear-wise.

[Jill Ellis]

Did anyone have to face this condition so that you can get your car inspected? I was told to put new tires on at 25000. The tires were always rotated on schedule.

[booster]

Originally Posted by avanti

Why not just replace in pairs (front or back)? It is not important that tires on different axles match wear-wise.

I sorta agree with this, but with a bit of caveat. As far as durability against failure, yep, but depending on the wear seen on the older pair, you can get a traction differential that may be hazardous under some conditions.


This was kind of a big deal when front drive cars started to get common here in Minnesota as lots of people were putting snow tires, and/or the best tires on the front so they would have the most traction. Not surprising, there were quite a few front drives doing end swaps on turns when the low traction, low weight, rear let go in the slippery. I think nearly all the tire shops now will only put the best tires on the rear of front drives and rear drives.


The other issue is with AWD/4WD, which needs to have the same rpm going to each end of the vehicle to prevent error codes or part damage from speed difference due to tire diameters. Same as when you put mismatched tires on a limited slip rear or even open rear differential. If the tires a much different, you have the carrier turning on the pinions all the time and can overheat the differential.

[JohnnyFry]

Typically I replace all 4 at the same time, of course, I would replace a pair if I had an event with a tire. My concern is that the tires carrying the heavier load could sustain internal wear (belt strand breakag or delamination) and I feel that rotating front to back on a regular basis will minimize the possibility of this occurring.