tire rotation when front & back are different

Factual Questions
1

My car (Infiniti Q60S convertible) has different tires for front and back. The owner’s manual says Infiniti cars should have tires rotated every 5000 miles, *except *the Q60 convertible. The dealer said they recommend switching sides instead of rotating front to back. They said the tires are not directional.

So first, how do I tell if these tires are directional? Second, even if they are not directional tires, should I take the dealer’s advice and swap sides at rotation time when the manual says they don’t need to be rotated?

2

Directional tires will have an asymmetric tread; it can be hard to tell from looking so there will also be a direction marker on the sidewall.

I would follow the guidance in the owner’s manual.

3

I’d go with the manual too. The dealer certainly has an interest in getting you back to the store as often as possible to do unnecessary maintenance. I would question their motives and their advice.

4

If you have a staggered set, in which the rears differ in size from the fronts, you simply do not rotate or swap sides. Period.

IF you were going to swap sides only, you’d have to remove the tires from the rims and swap tires only, and the tires outward facing sidewall would have to become the inward facing sidewall after the swap.

This is, generally, unheard of and will create more grief, aggravation and risk needed, and becomes relevant and practical if you do it often and have a very good understanding of the alignment settings (particularly the camber) and are what I would call… well… deranged.

For your safety and sanity: You, effectively, can remove ‘tire rotation’ from your concerns.

Staggered sets just don’t get rotated, and will wear down in a pattern consistent with the alignment on each corner, and this is just fine and very practical.
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5

This is true only if the tires are directional.

6

Does the manual specifically say to NOT rotate them, or does it just fail to say to rotate them?

7

I found the manual online, it specifically says the tires cannot be rotated.

8

No, it applies to all tires, because the nature of cars with staggered sets is one that will see each tire develop a very corner-specific wear pattern.

Unidirectional or not, the likelihood that the rear tires are evenly worn and not biased toward wear on the inner tread/contact patch is unlikely.

To get the deepest tread moved to the inside after a side-to-side swap, it must be removed from the rim. If you leave the tire on the rim, you accomplish nothing.
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9

Thanks for the responses. I will add that the reason this even comes up is that I switch out the summer tires for all-seasons in the winter. (The car was delivered with summer tires.) So I have been careful to mark which tires came from which position to remount in the same position when they go back on, but the dealer said it’s OK to swap sides.

10

Are directional tires still noisy?

11

So there is nothing /wrong/ with changing the wheel from one side to another, and if you have them all off anyway, it would be /better/ to change sides (because you typically have errors in the setup, and you do things like scuff the kerb anyway).

12

So far we have the owners manual/manufacturer saying no rotation
Dealer says side to side rotation
The only official/technical opinion left is the tire manufacturer.

My opinion for what it’s worth?
Take into consideration, are you keeping it or trading in a year or two?

I would be keeping it, it’s a real nice car so keep it aligned, replace shocks/struts and suspension parts as soon as needed…not when you HAVE to replace them to keep it running and put the best tires on it you can find.
Watch for funny/uneven wear patterns on the tire and address the issue if/when it happens, don’t wait and see because tires ain’t $39.99 no more.:cool:

Best of luck, nice car

13

There are asymmetric non-directional tires, e.g, the Michelin Pilot Sport 3 https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Pilot+Sport+3

Or Bridgestone Potenza S04 Pole Position: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Potenza+S-04+Pole+Position&sidewall=Blackwall

There are symmetric directional tires, e.g, Bridgestone Potenza RE970AS Pole Position: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Potenza+RE970AS+Pole+Position

There are also asymmetric directional tires, e.g, Goodyear Eagle Supercar G: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Eagle+F1+Supercar+G%3A+2

As if it’s not confusing enough, there are also asymmetric tires with a somewhat directional tread pattern but which are classified for non-directional use, e.g, Bridgestone Potenza RE-070: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Potenza+RE070

The bottom line is do whatever is printed on the tire shoulder. If it says “OUTSIDE”, keep that pointed outside. If there’s a directional arrow, mount them so they roll in that direction.

Re the OP Infiniti Q60S, the TireRack.com web site does not list that having staggered sizes, ie different front vs rear. However there are many sub-models and optional packages. Usually an AWD version won’t have staggered sizes, only higher-powered RWD versions.

It’s very important to know what tires your car has, and after a tire service, always check they are mounted correctly. Most factory or experienced independent shops would not mount them incorrectly but it’s always possible.

If you have a high performance car with alloy wheels and there’s a torque spec for the lug bolts, always request the service technician use a torque wrench not an air gun.

If you have problems balancing the tires, have it done at a shop with a Hunter road force machine. To my knowledge, only a road force balancing machine can handle difficult cases.

Some of the advanced Hunter machines have a “match maker” function which can record the “out of round” data from each wheel and tire separately, then match the best tire on the best wheel at the best mounting angle for lowest road force. The technician will typically not do this unless you specifically ask for it, which is normally only done when new tires are installed.

There is a locator on the Hunter.com web site for which shops have road force balancing machines.

14

Here is the Tirerack spec for my specific car. Front: 225/45R19, Rear: 245/40R19