forester tire rotation

[Mike Anzel]

Can someone tell me the correct way to have my '03 forester's tires rotated.
And how often should they be rotated.

 

[Ragnar]

Can someone tell me the correct way to have my '03 forester's tires rotated.
And how often should they be rotated.

Your owner's manual has a section on that, with pictures even.

Assuming uni-directional tires:

4-tire rotation: every 5,000 miles, front tires go to the back and vice
versa. Some people do the "X" pattern rotation, but that requires that the
tires be remounted so the cool white letters remain on the outside.

 

[Tom Forsha]

Mike,
Per owners manual (02 Forester) rotate every 7,500 miles and use a same side
front to back pattern.

Personally, I include my full sized spare in the rotation, and use a
modified front to back/ cross pattern.
i.e. Spare> RR, RR> RF, RF> LR, LR> LF, LF> Spare, and hope to avoid any
"perceived" problems by rotating the tires a little more often at 5,000
miles (plus it's easier for me to keep track of).

If in doubt, follow the manual.

Tom

 

[John Varela]

Personally, I include my full sized spare in the rotation, and use a
modified front to back/ cross pattern.
i.e. Spare> RR, RR> RF, RF> LR, LR> LF, LF> Spare, and hope to avoid any
"perceived" problems by rotating the tires a little more often at 5,000
miles (plus it's easier for me to keep track of).

I wish I had done that instead of winding up with a brand new spare and four
tires with half the tread worn off.

Putting the spare in the rotation means that if someday you have to use it
there's no worry about it having a different circumference than the other
three.

I don't know why the manual doesn't recommend the 5-tire rotation. My guess
is that some other Subaru model had a donut spare, necessitating the 4-tire
rotation, and some lamebrain tech writer just copied over the instructions
from that manual to the Forester.

 

[Greg Reed]

Ragnar wrote:

... cool white letters ...

That's a matter of opinion. . .

;-)

- Greg

--
1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Formal Limousine
(for sale: http://www.dataspire.com/caddy)
1989 Audi 200 Turbo Quattro sedan 5-speed
2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue
2001 Chevy Astro AWD (wife's)
2004 Forester 2.5XT 5-speed (coming soon!)

 

[Tom Forsha]

John,
Thanks for not jumping down my throat on my choice of tire rotation.
Many, if not most, people use the method you use.
The important message is to rotate the tires. Something I rarely did before
I bought my Forester.

As I typed this I did start wondering about the use of uni-directional /
asymmetrical tires that are on the market.
Rotation is not the issue (same side) but the spare tire. Would you now need
to have two spares, one for each side?

Hmm...?
Tom

 

[s]

John,
Thanks for not jumping down my throat on my choice of tire rotation.
Many, if not most, people use the method you use.

I wouldn't go so far as to say most, many people just take it to the garage
as say 'rotate the tires' and they get rotated however the person doing the
work feels like doing it. Many more just do a front to back, back to front
rotation, and there are several other options out there as well.

As I typed this I did start wondering about the use of uni-directional /
asymmetrical tires that are on the market.
Rotation is not the issue (same side) but the spare tire. Would you now need
to have two spares, one for each side?

I would think most people with "directional" tires just have 1
'non-directional' spare, and don't include it in their rotation.

 

[calhoun]

I go clockwise every 5000mi. and include the spare.
Unless you use one direction tires. (foresters don't come with them) Front
to back never made any sense. The same tire ends up back in its original
location on the next rotation.
The outside (white letters) are always outside no need to remount.

 

[Edward Hayes]

I measure tread depth and when the front or rears show a difference of about
1/32 inch I rotate. ~1/32 inch =~1/4 inch difference in circumference which
is the "maximum" difference recommended. I follow most major tire
manufactures recommendation which is a modified X. Front cross to rear and
rear to front on same side. The modified X is a pain for both end must be
off the ground at the same time or many jack ups. eddie

 

[Tony Burns]

Is there any reason why you would you change from the recommendations in section
11-39 of the Forester Owners Manual?

 

[Edward Hayes]

I believe that the "modified X" gives slightly longer tire life because each
tire will different a different wear pattern. Michelin recommended this
years ago and was followed by Several other major tire manufactures. I feel
that each placement i.e. front left will developed a wear pattern based on
the difference in shock rebound/spring strength and driving style. If you
keep putting the same tire on the same corner the wear pattern will get
progressively worse: sometimes to the extent that it appears an alignment is
needed when that is not the case. I realize I have opened a can of worms now
so I'll be interested in reading rebuttals, but hopefully the rebuttals will
have some bases other than my neighbor said. eddie

 

[Mohawk Jake]

Ed,
My memory is a little foggy, but I seem to remember the modified X being
used many moons ago on RWD cars with bias ply tires. All cars had full
spares then and it was a 5 tire rotation.

I think the advent of radial tires with their 90 degree plies, along with
FWD, started to change the rotation assumption. And AWD may further
complicate matters with varying combinations of front/rear default power
delivery.

Regardless, I got only 22K out of my OEM Bridgestones on my 00 Forester.
They wore evenly and yes I rotated them per the manual. I now have 37K on
the Forester and the new tires are wearing fast too.

I just replaced the V rated Bridgestones on my 02 WRX at 22K. They had about
3/32 left. I went with Pirelli P-8000 unidirectionals. They really improved
handling responsiveness and removed most of the understeer. And they are
much better in hard rain. We'll see how well they wear.

 

[Edward Hayes]

Jake: Thanks for the response. I just checked the Michelin tire booklet and
one of the recommended rotation sequence for AWD and 4WD is front tires
crossed to rear and rear tires same side to front. eddie

 

[Edward Hayes]

Jake; Thanks for the response. I just checked the Michelin tire catalog and
one of two rotation recommendation for radial tires on all wheel drive
vehicles is the modified X I referred to. rear tires forward on same side
and front tires crossed to rear. eddie

 

[John Varela]

As I typed this I did start wondering about the use of uni-directional /
asymmetrical tires that are on the market.
Rotation is not the issue (same side) but the spare tire. Would you now need
to have two spares, one for each side?

My car (the Forester is my wife's) has unidirectional tires AND the rears are
bigger than the fronts. That pretty much does it for rotation, and there's no
point in complaining about the donut spare.

 

[AZ Jim]

So I was all ready to include my spare in my first rotation (6000 mi)
on my 03 Forester. I measured the tire circumferences and found them
to be within the 1/4 in spec. Then I realized that the spare has a
different rim. It would work, but it would look different than the
other three. Are folks who rotate in their spare dismounting the
spare from the rim and swapping with one of the other tires?

Jim

 

[Tom Forsha]

Jim,
It's always something.
I have the stock steel wheels and the spare is a match.
Did things change from '02 to '03?
Wouldn't surprise me.
If I had nice fancy alloy wheels, would I go to the expense of putting a
matching wheel on the spare.
Not likely.
If my spare wheel did not match the rest of the wheels would I go through
the added expense of having the tire remounted. balanced every 5-7.5K miles.
Nope. The accumulated cost would probably add up to more then you would save
by keeping your tire in the rotation and ready for permanent use if
necessary.

Oh well, it was worth a shot.

Tom

 

[Benleigh Bob]

Why not follow the manufacurers recommendations?

 

[AZ Jim]

Bob and Tom,

I've got an 'X' model, so I have the steel rims - I won't be buying a
matching one, and I also agree that the cost and effort of remounting
and re-balancing at every rotation would negate the cost benefit of
getting one tire's worth of wear from that spare. They must have
changed things from '02 to '03. I'm guessing then that the pre-'03s
also had full size spare tires?

The main reason to not follow the manufacturers' recommendation is to
actually use the tread life of that brand new full size spare tire by
rotating it in. When the time comes to buy new tires, save the best
of the lot and that becomes the new spare. After that, only rotate
the 4 new tires and only buy 4 new tires each time but at least that
original spare got some use.

Call me crazy, but since they didn't match the rim on the spare, I'd
almost rather have a compact spare (possibly causes problems with
AWD). Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've only had 1 on the road flat tire
in 20 years of driving. I've had some slow leaks but still got home
on them.

Actually, this discussion brings up one more point. There is a cutout
under the floor and above the spare tire where the rear privacy shade
is supposed to fit for storage. The manual even says you can put it
there. When I tried, it wouldn't even begin to fit - the full size
spare is to fat! Maybe in earlier years the shade would fit there? I
would be handy - a lot more cargo fits in the back if the shade isn't
in place.

Jim

 

[Tom Forsha]

Why not follow the manufacurers recommendations?

Bob,
All wheel drive was completely new to me when I first got my Forester.
So I read and evaluated as much readily accessible information as I could
find on the subject, owners manual, news groups, tire mfg. information.

Subaru recommended front to back tire rotation (no accounting for the
spare).
They also recommend keeping the tires within ¼ inch circumference on all
wheels.

Evaluation: Within 10K miles my 4 main tires would be worn enough that there
would be more than ¼ inch difference between them and an un-used spare.
Thus making the spare unsuitable for putting on the car.
A catastrophic failure of one of the four main tires would result in having
to buy a minimum of three new tires (includes using the still new spare to
round out the set).

I also found what I believe to be reliable information, stating that there
was no valid reason to keep the tires on the same side of the car (front to
back rotation).

My choice was to use the spare in the rotation, so that it would always be
within acceptable tolerance for use as one of the four primary tires should
the need arise.

Other considerations:
Using the spare in the rotation adds another 20% to the time (or mileage)
before new tires would be needed.
At that time you could decide between using the best of the 5 as your
permanent spare or to buy 5 new tires and be ready to roll again.

Oh yea, and for me it's a lot easier to rotate the tires using the spare
because I only have to get one wheel off the ground at a time.

This was my reason for not following the mfg. recommendations on "tire
rotations". Don't forget I still believe in keeping the tires within the ¼
inch tolerance.

Tom