Tire Rotation Pattern for the 100

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siglo

siglo

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I'm usually really bad at rotating tires, I've done it only once since I bought my 100. I've now switched to 285/75R16 Bridgestone Dueler A/T and would like to get the best mileage out of them. I've seen the pattern of rotating the tires in the manual including the spare tire. After busting up my tire and rim on a recent trip and having to drive about 600KM without a spare tire, I've purchased an additional spare.

So my question is what would be the best rotation pattern that includes the 2 spare tires? should I have the spares fitted in the front or rear?
 
RR to FL
RL to FR
FL to SL
FR to SR
SL to RL
SR to RR
First letter REAR, FRONT, SPARE
Second letter RIGHT, LEFT
My thoughts
 
@100 TD

I was talking to the service advisor at Toyota this morning and he suggested the same pattern as you did.. it seems to be the most reasonable way to do it.. thanks :)
 
Two thoughts:
When radial tires came to us years ago I remember the tire industry stating not to reverse rotate tires. In other words Passenger and Driver side tires need to be moved forward/backward not right/left. Maybe this is not a concern anymore with radials.

If your tires have directional pattern you won't be able to move tires right/left.
 
Good point on the "directional tread" Spresso, I didn't allow for that as not many run them and if you do you know what they are about.

I personally rotate mainly on the same side unless I have a uneven wear issue.
Approx 25 to 30 years ago steel radials used to fail if they had their direction changed from rotating side to side, they used to cause some body damage when they flew off at high speed, as well as the steel belts wrapping around the diff housing and tearing off brake lines. I personally haven't heard of any ongoing problems for the last 15 years or more.
 
spressomon said:
Two thoughts:
When radial tires came to us years ago I remember the tire industry stating not to reverse rotate tires. In other words Passenger and Driver side tires need to be moved forward/backward not right/left. Maybe this is not a concern anymore with radials.

If your tires have directional pattern you won't be able to move tires right/left.
Click to expand...

I'm old too and ask this question of several tire guys. Everyone says it is not a concern unless you have a sports car that runs directional tires. We don't so it is not a concern. The best way to rotate tires is to look at the wear patterns and to rotate to eliminate "change" the current wear pattern. Sometimes I go front to rear, sometimes I X them? Like I said it depends on the wear pattern. Also found that rotating every 8-10K miles works great for getting long wear from your tires. Also I never have them rebalanced unless the tire is showing wear that indicates a balance issue.
 
SWUtah said:
I'm old too and ask this question of several tire guys. Everyone says it is not a concern unless you have a sports car that runs directional tires. We don't so it is not a concern. The best way to rotate tires is to look at the wear patterns and to rotate to eliminate "change" the current wear pattern. Sometimes I go front to rear, sometimes I X them? Like I said it depends on the wear pattern. Also found that rotating every 8-10K miles works great for getting long wear from your tires. Also I never have them rebalanced unless the tire is showing wear that indicates a balance issue.
Click to expand...


Good info! Sucks being 'old'!
 
As long as the tires don't have uni-directional treads, I always cross rotate. I noticed many dealers only rotate front to rear. The honda did this on my father's CRV and it started pulling one way. I swapped the left & right fronts (equivalent to a 4-tire front-to-rear cross rotation) and all was well.

Alignments often take into consideration the pitch of the road (usually higher in the center for water drainage), so the front right wheel may have asymmetrical alignment setting than the front left. At least this was what the tech at South Bay Toyota told showed me, and they've gotten the alignments done on my 4runner spot-on each of the two times I've had alignments done for suspension/drivetrain modification reasons, and the vehicle is still in alignment 4 yrs and 60K mi later using a 5 tire cross rotation. So if you rotate front-to-rear only, you're bound to wear out the rubber sooner.
 
Jim, I agree on the alignments. A good alignment done properly takes into account the passengers and the roads traveled. The alignment lasts a long time as you indicate and allows tires to wear correctly and for longer distances between rotations. I watch the air pressures and monitor the wear (gauge) and rotate accordingly; sometimes front to back, other times crossed.

Even though a good alignment lasts for years, I usually get it checked with a new set of tires. On my Previas (van), I had directional wheels, so I learned the importance of alignments and pressures because I had to go F/R and could not use the spare. I was able to get even and long tire wear (50-60K) from H rated tires on a Previa.
 
I am not sure why you are mixing in your spare tires. Rotating them and keeping them inflated keeps the tires wearing even. Unless something is wrong you are trying to keep the front tires form cupping from turning so for this reason you move them from front to back. Once you let it go to far then you need to do something to correct the problem. I guess if you were only going to keep the truck for a short amount of time before switching then it would make since to use the spare so you wouldnt have to buy new tire to soon but in the long run it is replace 4 tires or go 33% longer and replace 6 tires. ???
 
One reason to include the spare is that you might want to go with another size or type on your next set. Also, the spare tire's performance is reduced by age, even if not used....
 
@REKCUT

one of the reasons is what uHu said, I have changed the tire size and I haven't used my previous spare tire at all and it is now lying in storage. I change tires frequently, usually at the beginning of every summer. For the new tires I chose I would like to see if I can use them for a little longer.

With the kind of weather we have here, the spare tire useful life is reduced especially if it is mounted outside the vehicle. So keeping it hanging outside the vehicle for a two or three years would mean that one day I'd have to replace it anyway so I might as well put it to use. Another reason is that the diameter of a new spare tire when fitted is slightly larger than the used ones.. I'm not sure if that is a big problem but I'd rather that the spare tires would have the same wear as the rest of the tires.
 
What your saying is logical but you must have a lot more patience than I do. If I want to go to a larger tire I sure cant wait until my normal set wears out to do that and by adding in the spare it just makes it a longer wait. You would really have to do a lot of miles on a new spare with worn out 4 on you truck to possible do any damage and that would have to be on the back. I can see doing the last option if the weather caused a tire to die from the elements. You might as well use it some. In my case my tires will need to be replace because of damage before they wear slick because it is not a daily driver and usually gets only 3 to 4 k a year put on it. Still, thanks for the answer because I never thought of it in those terms.
 
@REKCUT

actually, I was very impatient in this case. I couldn't find 285s that fit my 17" rims locally, so I went and bought OEM 16" rims to fit the size I wanted :hillbilly:
 
I do better with pictures than words, so I scanned the UM page...

Torque spec is 97 ft-lbs.

LX Tire Rotate.webp
 
Holy thread revival PC. But thanks for the torque specs - I've wondered that and haven't bothered to look.
 
Keep in mind not all tires are meant to be rotated in this order. Some unidirectional tires are not supposed to be cross-rotated (if it was originally on the right side, keep it on the right just switch it between front and rear wheels)
 
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