Hi all,

I just bought a brand new siena hlx 16v with 4+1 Pirelli 6000s. I don't understand why owner's manual recommends not to cross rotate them, since P6000s are obviously not unidirectional. I prefer rotating them using the spare, to make sure they're evenly worn.
Would appreciate your ideas.
harry tang

I wouldn't rotate them with the spare - keep it in good nick as a spare. No need to evenly wear them, if you are getting a lot of wear on the shoulder then get your tracking or pressures checked. Left to right across the axle should wear quite evenly unless you do a lot of 2 wheel action. I tend to keep them where they are until a pair need replacing, usually the front pair.

Put new tyres on the back, and the tyres off the back on to the front. The fronts will wear first on a front-wheel drive car, so you can maintain that pattern.
(I can see this opening a can of worms though....)

H

I agree with H

If I was to buy 2 news tyres now, unless they were all shot to pieces, I would put the new ones onto the BACK and move the older tyres to the front.

Leave the spare as it is

Use of the spare is a bit of a moot point on the Coupe, as it's a spacesaver about 3 inches wide! (Needs pumping up to about 75 psi )
I can't see why anyone would want to rotate with the spare anyway. You want to keep tyres even across the same axle. And always the best tyres on the back.
H

As H isnt going to let you guys know why you put new tyres on the back, I will.
New tyres on the front and old tyres on the rear induce potentially dangerous oversteer. The front of the vehicle grips and the rear slides potentially spinning the car. This is difficult to anticipate and rear grip loss is usually sudden and difficult to control.

Old tyres on the front and new on the rear, induces "safe" understeer, the vehicle does not turn into a corner, usually rectified by more or less steering and slowing down. Much easier to control and feedback through the steering is much more obvious, so you anticipate the problem rather than react to it like in oversteer.

Personally I run tyres down to 3mm and then sling them, I always change tyres in pairs and always buy the best.

So if you start having oversteer in a FWD, or buy a FWD which has overstear - then its a good sign that your rear wheels are in need of replacement.

Just got 2 new potenza's on (the back of) my tipo. What a difference. Face on the Corsa driver as i slungshot around him on the roundabout this morning was worth a million dollars.

Nope, oversteer is caused by more grip at the front of the car than at the rear, it can also be caused by faulty dampers, brakes, springs and bushes etc. Only way to check tyres is to measure them, check for cracks, check for sidewall damage and for being true. Oversteer is a sign something is not correct on a family car.

NumanR said:

As H isnt going to let you guys know why you put new tyres on the back, I will.

Click to expand...

I would have explained, if someone had asked. My explanation would have been the same as yours.
H

as everyone else is saying I replace in pairs, but have just replaced the four as the two back had plenty of tread but the side walls were cracking. UV damage? so now I will use a tyre gel for protection - Suncream for tyres

Were the back tyres old? If you don't rotate the tyres, you could end up with tyres that are years old on the back. Another argument for new tyres on the back, then the backs on the front.
H

I too knew that explanation, just no one asked for it!

Ah well, great minds think alike

Currently, I replace one at a time I have only had to replace one though, as it was dengerously curbed