Tire rotation?

[lionvt]

I went to rotate the tires on my wife's 91 Range Rover. I noticed her factory owners manual said to not rotate tires front to back, but only side to side. I thought that was strange so I consulted my Hanes manual -- and you guessed it -- they say only rotate the tires front to back and never side to side. What gives? I've always assumed that you want to rotate the tires so they spend time at all four wheels. Any ideas?

 

[Disco Mike]

Always rotate front to back, and because it is a 4wheeler try and do it every 5to 7K to keep even wear.
Mike J.

 

[Steve83]

LR recommends only side-to-side IF you rotate, but they don't recommend rotating. I never rotate. If you keep your alignment good, you shouldn't need to.

 

[Robert Godshall]

I have always been told inorder to get maximum life and handeling out of a set of tires do the 5 tire rotation. I would do a rotation any way despite what LR says, it's hard to keep a good alignment if you take your truck Off-Road.

This Concludes my current statement
Robert Godshall

 

[lionvt]

Rotation Bad?

I can see why you would want to rotate (and I do rotate on my Disco I), but what does Land Rover have against rotation? Unless you balanced the wheels on the car (and I don't know who would do this), what is the harm of rotation? And I agree, keeping a hard working 4WD or AWD in perfect alignment is not realistic. Any ideas of why you wouldn't rotate?

 

[DiscoveryXD]

Front to back is what I've always heard.

 

[Steve83]

I suspect (no documentation to back this up) that the reason LR discourages it is because it causes road noise from the tread rolling the other direction on the rears & having a different wear pattern on the fronts. If your suspension & steering linkage is lubed & in good order, off-roading shouldn't affect your alignment, but I know most LRs over 7 years old have front end problems.