Beating a dead horse (again) tire rotation

[Petman]

Being new to the community, it took me a while to scan the archive posts to determine whether I could rotate my Passion's tires. The consensus was that I could, but there was diverse info, so I wasn't sure. Anyway, for the new guys like me, FYI from Continental's own mouth:

--------------------------------------

ContiProContact 175 55 R15 rear, 155 60 R15 front

I have subject tires on my smart fortwo. My question is, can I rotate each size on its axle (left<-->right)? ie are the tires unidirectional? Continental website doesn't seem to say. Your help would be appreciated.

Dennis

---------------------------------------

Dear Dennis,

Thank you for contacting Customer Relations at Continental Tire North America. The ContiProContact has a symmetrical, (Multidirectional) tread design and can be rotated according to the vehicle manufactures recommendation.



----------------------------------------

It appears to me those with OEM ContiProContacts can rotate the smaller fronts side to side and the larger rears side to side, but NOT mix sizes by rotating fronts and rears.

[rfernatt]

I don't think you'll have any problems swapping side to side, but there is no real benefit either. The outside edge of the tire is still the outside edge regardless of which side it's on, unless you remove the tire from the rim and flip it around, but then you don't need to go side to side.

If the ability to rotate and prolong tire life is important, I'd consider putting a set of rear wheels/tires on the front or swap to new rims/tires that are the same size all the way around. There are other advantages as well, but it's not a universally endorsed practice.

[Petman]

Thanks for the info. It may be better to just leave all four where they are and plan to replace all four incl. new wheels for the front when they wear out. I drive it 4 miles round trip to work and put typically 8k/yr on vehicles. I guess it's much ado about nothing in my case.

[Okiesmrt]

Originally Posted by Petman

Thanks for the info. It may be better to just leave all four where they are and plan to replace all four incl. new wheels for the front when they wear out. I drive it 4 miles round trip to work and put typically 8k/yr on vehicles. I guess it's much ado about nothing in my case.

Put rears on the front and you'll be glad you did! It drives in wind better, sways less, takes bumps better and you can rotate.

[RVGRINGO]

Originally Posted by Petman

Thanks for the info. It may be better to just leave all four where they are and plan to replace all four incl. new wheels for the front when they wear out. I drive it 4 miles round trip to work and put typically 8k/yr on vehicles. I guess it's much ado about nothing in my case.

I think you have the right idea. We've had our Passion since November, 2006, and now have 22,000 Km on the odometer. The tires show little wear and we'll leave them where they are until they need replacing. At that time, we'll consider buying a set of rear rims for the front wheels.

[Big Panda]

Originally Posted by Petman

Beating a dead horse (again) tire rotation

Dear Dennis,

Thank you for contacting Customer Relations at Continental Tire North America. The ContiProContact has a symmetrical, (Multidirectional) tread design and can be rotated according to the vehicle manufactures recommendation.

What's that horses name....Lazarus?

I can see from their reply that you SHOULDN'T rotate your tires. If the manufacturers recommendation (smart) doesn't address the issue of tire rotation, then it would only make sense they do not recommend tire rotation from side to side.

However I find it odd that Continental leaves it up to the manufacturer to decide if a tire is capable of being rotated, NOT Continental.

In any event, I put a pair of OE rear wheels/tires on the front of my Passion and plan on rotating "front to back" only.

That's the way, uh huh, uh huh, I like it, uh huh, uh huh!!!

[Old smart]

It has been elsewhere noted and reported that the front tires wear faster on the inside shoulders than the outsides, causing an early end of tire life. The inner shoulders of the rears may also wear faster due to their constant negative camber.

At the rate of my uneven front wear (yup, got it too - measured with a depth gauge), and if I did nothing, I would be down to the allowable minimum of 2mm on the insides before 22K. If I reversed the tires on the rims at 12.5K I should get 25K out of them with 2mm left all the way across. I would do likewise with the rears at the same time. We’ll see how it progresses, but 25K on UTQG 400AA tires isn’t very spectacular; maybe they’ll do better than that.

At any rate, turning the tires on the rims may have more benefit than rotating them from side-to-side.

[maxtraxduffy]

Ive got 25k on my smart now and i got 23k outa my front tires.they were cupping really bad.couldent stand the "thumping".wish i could take some -camber out but i think the tire would roll over on the side wall.but i still love it and i can live with it.all in all been a good year and a half with my "bumbulb"!!!!!

[Wdhitch]

Originally Posted by Old smart

It has been elsewhere noted and reported that the front tires wear faster on the inside shoulders than the outsides, causing an early end of tire life. The inner shoulders of the rears may also wear faster due to their constant negative camber.

At the rate of my uneven front wear (yup, got it too - measured with a depth gauge), and if I did nothing, I would be down to the allowable minimum of 2mm on the insides before 22K. If I reversed the tires on the rims at 12.5K I should get 25K out of them with 2mm left all the way across. I would do likewise with the rears at the same time. We’ll see how it progresses, but 25K on UTQG 400AA tires isn’t very spectacular; maybe they’ll do better than that.

At any rate, turning the tires on the rims may have more benefit than rotating them from side-to-side.

Originally Posted by maxtraxduffy

Ive got 25k on my smart now and i got 23k outa my front tires.they were cupping really bad.couldent stand the "thumping".wish i could take some -camber out but i think the tire would roll over on the side wall.but i still love it and i can live with it.all in all been a good year and a half with my "bumbulb"!!!!!

We didn't do anything to ours and we got 43,000 out of them. Could have gotten more but got a really good deal on a set of tires...

Another trick is to conveniently get a nail in the tire... if you have the wheel/tire warranty badda bing badda boom.

Edit... this looks like I've done this... I haven't...

[forestacademy]

Originally Posted by Petman

Thanks for the info. It may be better to just leave all four where they are and plan to replace all four incl. new wheels for the front when they wear out. I drive it 4 miles round trip to work and put typically 8k/yr on vehicles. I guess it's much ado about nothing in my case.

I wouldn't worry to much If I were you. Maybe annually flip them on the rims and you should get several years out of them