Tire Rotation on All time 4 Wheel Drive SUV's

marky1020

Recently I was at a Land Rover dealer and asked what the tire rotation schedule on a Freelander was. I was told there is no nchedule and the manufuctur recommends you do not rotate the tires at all because its an all time 4 wheel drive vechile and the tire wear is the same on all 4 tires at all times.

I then went to a Subaru dealer and asked the same quesition for a Forester. I was told the recommened tire roation schedule is every 7,500. Since both vechiles are 4 wheel drive, which one of these two statements makes the most sense? I'm confused. Can someone please help? thanks

bretfraz

Seems to me that both rotation schedules are correct. I don't have owners manuals of either vehicle in front of me nor am I going to waste time tracking down this info on the internet. But both vehicles you mentioned are different from one another and that goes for their AWD systems as well.

I'd have to believe that both mfr's are telling their respective owners the correct info. I have no reason to believe either comment is incorrect.

sgrd0q

Actually, it is not so much a 4 wheel drive issue. I believe it has more to do with the front/rear weight distribution. By the way BMW, too, does not recommend any tire rotation, on at least some models (mine was like that).

ponm

Tire wear also has to do with brakes. Considering most of the braking load is placed on the front brakes, the front tires will generally wear faster.

-scott

pattiandjbird

I was told by Firestone that the tires should be rotated 4 times a year and that they should be "cross rotated". But in my Forester manual, it says to rotate front to back and vice versa. My tires are all "cupped" eventhough I rotated per Subaru's suggestion. They only have 25k miles on them and are becoming noisey at highway speeds. When I asked the service mgr, he said "they all get cupped". Firestone says it's because I didn't rotate them enough, ( I did every other oil chg). Now I have to put up with the hummmmmmm.

Wondering if I should look at Michelins for my next tires. I was happy with them on another vehicle.

paisan

On AWD you should rotate them every 5K-6K miles. And on subarus F<->R is the proper roation. Cupped in the center? If they are wearing in the centers your pressures were too high. If they wear on the edges the pressure was too low.

-mike

suvshopper4

Can't tires cupping be caused by alignment or strut problems?

By 'cupping', I mean when a series of many regular cups or divots (for want of a better word) appears at the edge of the tire tread area. (I'm not sure if that's what others here mean.)

paisan

That is camber problem. I have that on my XT6 right now. I have positive camber and when I auto-x it digs out deep cups, some of my race tires went down to the cords that way last season.

Positive camber is bad.

-mike

pattiandjbird

Firestone said they were more cupped on the outside, but I am anal about checking tire pressure and they were rotated every other oil chg which would be 6k miles. Firestone said cupping is caused by the suspension not holding the tire on the pavement too. But they checked out the suspension and said it was ok. I really think most auto makers don't put great tires on cars when they're new either. Most people don't pay attention to what kind of tires they're getting on a new car...but since the recall of those Firestones on the Explorer they might.

swschrad

and everything I've read says it's front-end wear someplace causing the tire to chop into the pavement where the cups form. if you want to delve deeply into all causes, I suspect an off-balance wheel and/or tire with a loose wheel bearing might wobble enough to get it started.

"they all get cupped" could also mean the suspension is designed for a lot of bite, and if the tires are aggressive at that point on their tread, then there is indication of some bad choices in design. could also be load dependent... the classic VW bug was rough on tires... the car sat on the outsides of the treads with just a driver, and on the insides of the treads with a load in it. that is also a bad choice in design.

be interesting to see if some subie owners who have put different tires on got rid of the issue, or if it took the miracle of an extremely with-it alignment man to puzzle out the exact issue.

paisan

And no one has this problem except me, but that's cause I have positive camber when I converted over from an air-suspension to non-air suspension and I race my car everyweekend on the auto-x track. My guess is that this person's car has out of spec camber and that is causing the problem.

-mike

suvshopper4

The time I had cupping tires, the VW mechanic told me it was probably due to worn bushings on the struts. I didn't keep the Golf long after that, so I didn't have a fix done that I could learn anything from.

Like others here, I believe cupping is not the tires' fault; it is caused by the way the alignment angles or the suspension presses the tires to the road surface. It shouldn't happen with a proper stock (non-racing) alignment and suspension set-up.

paisan

Is bad for racing too. I just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet. Also the tires that did this were Treadwear of 50 which is very very soft.

-mike

pikespeak2

Just had my 98 Forester in to the dealer. They tell me my alignment is off and causing tires to wear badly. I only see some slight cupping. An alignment was done at the time I purchased the tires new from Sears automotive and has been checked since. Tires have also been rotated regularly. I checked the alignment specs with Sears, Subaru dealer, and two other shops in town. Everybody lists different alignment specs for that vehicle. Where can I obtain the correct Subaru alignment specs to go by?

subearu

for the 2000 Outback & Legacy, from a recent alignment. However, I'm not sure how applicable they would be to a '98 Forester. And they're filed away at home!

Does it currently steer weird or pull left/right at all? When going over a bump, does the backend tend to want to track differently than the front?

FWIW, I'd personally trust the one using Hunter equipment.

-Brian

paisan

Should be burried somewhere in the manual. At least on my '88 they are.

-mike

cophotog

I purchased a demo Freelander with 4200 miles,2500 miles later I am feeling severe shutter in the ride. The faster I go the worse it is. I took it to the Land Rover Denver South of course they tested drove and found nothing wrong! Told me they never rotate tires or cover unbalanced tires. Today I had a expert tire shop look at the tires and rotate them. They said the front two wheels where" the worst they have ever seen out of balance" They had to use 4 oz of counter weights on one tire alone. There are flat spots on 3 tires so I am taking them to a Goodyear dealor to get them taken care of. Just had a baby boy July 8th ,so I am not taking this lightly. To much bad PR lately with tires in the news.

paisan

C'mon you should know of their excellent reliability ratings Out on the trail we joke with em all the time cause they say "oh you'll be following us" and we reply "Yep we'll follow the trail of the finest british parts and oil"



-mike

cophotog

My 2002 Freelanders protective coating is peeling off both side mirrors. I went to the my local dealor today to get both side mirrors replaced since the coating is peeling away from the body. When the service manager and I were walking back in we noticed 3 other Freelanders with the same problem. Check out your Freelander!

Also have had severe problems with unbalanced Goodyear tires and
windshield wiper fluid that will not spray.