Tyre rotation and directional tyres.

[olderman1]

Two questions here;

I have Pirelli Scorpion Verde Seal Inside tyres (summer version, not all weather) on my car and I'm having a failure to see if they're directional or not. I've been on my knees today but I cannot see a direction arrow, so I assume that they aren't directional. Does anybody know different ?

Secondly, and this is allied to the first question. I think it may be time to think about rotating my tyres. I thought that I'd seen the recommended mileage for doing this in the handbook, but yet again I can't find it now.

Does anyone know where this is in the handbook or have I read it elsewhere and if it's not in the handbook, does anyone know the recommended mileage for rotation ?

[Kenny R]

10 minutes ago, olderman1 said:

 

Does anyone know where this is in the handbook or have I read it elsewhere and if it's not in the handbook, does anyone know the recommended mileage for rotation ?

 

[SurreyJohn]

Directional tyres have a rotation arrow, so if isn't one then unlikely

If it says outside then they are not directional

 

Swapping tyres around is more to do with wear than at a set mileage.   

As a rule of thumb do anytime from 8k miles, but should be done by 14-15k miles 

You want to avoid waiting until some are below 3mm tread depth and ideally do before some only reach 4mm (summer tyres) tread

 

Edited 6 January, 2020 by SurreyJohn

[KenONeill]

13 minutes ago, olderman1 said:

I cannot see a direction arrow

I don't know, but an asymmetric tyre should have the outside wall marked "This side out" on the outside of all 4 (5 with a full size spare) tyres.

[DaveMiller]

I’ve been thinking of rotating mine.  My Kodiaq is lightly used (9,000 miles so far, in 26 months) and I decided it would be time to change them round when the total tread depth on a front tyre and a rear tyre is down to 10 mm.

 

My thinking being that:

Each tyre started at 8 mm and I want to change all four at the same time (to get all-seasons), when they’re each down to about 2 mm.

Total (one front and one rear) started at 16 mm and will be 4 mm at renewal.  The fronts will wear fastest, but the set will be half worn when the F+R total is 10 mm.  The fuller tyres then go on the front, and become the faster-wearing ones.  After the same mileage again, all tyres will be approximately equal.  That makes for only one rotation of tyres (and the tyres stay on the same side, so it doesn’t matter if they are directional).

 

Or is my logic faulty?

Edited 6 January, 2020 by DaveMiller

[SurreyJohn]

4 minutes ago, DaveMiller said:

I’ve been thinking of rotating mine.  My Kodiaq is lightly used (9,000 miles so far, in 26 months) and I decided it would be time to change them round when the total tread depth on a front tyre and a rear tyre is down to 10 mm.

 

My thinking being that:

Each tyre started at 8 mm and I want to change all four at the same time (to get all-seasons), when they’re each down to about 2 mm.

Total (one front and one rear) started at 16 mm and will be 4 mm at renewal.  The fronts will wear fastest, but the set will be half worn when the F+R total is 10 mm.  The fuller tyres then go on the front, and become the faster-wearing ones.  After the same mileage again, all tyres will be approximately equal.  That makes for only one rotation of tyres (and the tyres stay on the same side, so it doesn’t matter if they are directional).

 

Or is my logic faulty?

 

Correct logic

 

If fronts wear fastest (normal on front wheel drive) probably about 2.5 times wear rate then a front-back swap mid mileage of expected replacement mileage means just one swap

However some tyres may start to crack from about 5-6 years old, so even if mileage is very low, tyre needs changing as cracking before wearing

 

Most people talk of individual tread depths (not adding them together), so if started at 8mm, fronts now about 4mm and backs about 6mm then doing same mileage will mean all down to same approx 2mm

 

However although the legal limit is only 1.6mm minimum tread depth, there is a general view that anything less than 3mm will potentially be poor in heavy rain

[silver1011]

The Kodiaq is my third Haldex equipped Skoda.

 

The first and second, both Octavia Scout's wore the front are rear tyres almost identically. Very little if any wear bias towards the front.

 

The Kodiaq has now clicked over 15,000 miles and again the front and rear tyre wear is identical.

 

So as it stands, mine and the wife's driving style / journey types mean that rotating the tyres isn't necessary for us.

[linni]

1 hour ago, olderman1 said:

I have Pirelli Scorpion Verde Seal Inside tyre

 

I have the same ones and they are not directional. So you can interchange them as you like.

[penguin17]

45 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

The Kodiaq is my third Haldex equipped Skoda.

 

The first and second, both Octavia Scout's wore the front are rear tyres almost identically. Very little if any wear bias towards the front.

 

The Kodiaq has now clicked over 15,000 miles and again the front and rear tyre wear is identical.

 

So as it stands, mine and the wife's driving style / journey types mean that rotating the tyres isn't necessary for us.

I have found this with my Haldex equipped Superb too. 

[olderman1]

Wow, loads of good, helpful answers and quick too, thankyou very much one and all.

 

Kenny R;  thanks for that, I couldn't see the wood for the trees.

Silver 1011; Good point about actual wear, I must measure my treads depths as to the naked eye there looks to be little difference, so maybe I won't need to interchange.

[olderman1]

4 minutes ago, olderman1 said:

Wow, loads of good, helpful answers and quick too, thankyou very much one and all.

 

Kenny R;  thanks for that, I couldn't see the wood for the trees.

Silver 1011; Good point about actual wear, I must measure my treads depths as to the naked eye there looks to be little difference, so maybe I won't need to interchange.

 

I've just measured my tread depths and in 7500 miles there's only 1mm of difference in tread wear i.e. 7.5mm left on rears and over 6.5mm left on the fronts.

I think I'll leave well alone for now.

[SinglePointSafety]

Our Golf Alltrack (with haldex 4WD) is also wearing front and rear tyres pretty evenly, so no need for tyre/wheel interchanging.

[BoxerBoy]

I swap summer and winter wheels so get a regular look at the tyres.

 

I just eyeball the treads and put the pair with most tread on the front.

 

Not surprising then that this aligns with much of what’s been said above - the original fronts do time on the rear, then back again to balance out the wear.

 

With exactly 3 months till end of contract (30K miles) the original summer tyres (on mint wheels) will be refitted “just in time” to have sufficient end-of-term-tread so I’ll avoid new tyres.

 

The winter set will continue in service on the next car.

[26DIPP]

In the UK the front left will wear down fastest on front wheel drive cars. In AWD / 4x4 the left side should wear faster than the right because of the RAB design. On our cars  - one is FWD and one is Haldex - for years I have swapped the rear ones to the front on the same side and then the front ones back across.

[silver1011]

Not noticed this on any of my cars, tyres on the same axle always wear evenly, and as mentioned, my Haldex cars have worn evenly left to right and front to back too.

[bigiainw]

This is very interesting. My Octavia Scout on goodyears had a bit of a differential between front and rear so i had them swapped front to rear at the first service (18K). Side to side the wear is pretty identical. My wife drives a Ford Transit Custom with wheelchair access for our youngest. There is pronounced addtional wear on the shoulder of the NSF tyre when compared with the OSF. Rears look brand new after 21K. My previous Scout on Pirellis wore very evenbly all round with no swap.

 

Very interesting as I said!

[Davidabz]

Hi, slightly different question but brought about when I checked tread depths with a view to swap front to rear before winter to get best treads on the front.

I noticed that the front pair were of a different manufacturer from the rear pair.

 

is this acceptable on a 2016 Superb 190tdi 4x4? Car is Skoda Approved purchased in February of this year.

[ZacDaMan72]

They should be the same tyres as described in the owners manual.

[Ootohere]

@Davidabz

There is nothing wrong with tyres from different manufacturers on the front and rear.

?

Are they the same sizes, speed / load ratings?   

 

Approved used cars might even get supplied with one tyre from a different manufacturer or even more than 2 different manufactures might happen.

The car can still be a 'Skoda Approved Used car',  which counts for little other than they have checks to see no finance on them and 'Workshop checks' to see if safe supposedly and yet maybe not Serviced tote manufacturers guidelines or schedules but yet with a 12 or 24 month warranty on them.

 

?

Has your car had the Haldex Service carried out at 3 years old, or the brake fluid changed at 3 years, as per Manufacturers Recommendations / Guidelines / Schedule?

Edited 11 October, 2020 by e-Roottoot