Swapping Wheels Front to Rear

[DieselE]

With all the threads in the last day or so about fitting new tyres. What's the general view about swapping wheels around to even out tyre wear.

Is there an overall gain in tyre life to justify all the jacking and wheel humping?

 

[MangoMan]

The only advantage is with this is that, if guaged properly is that you will wear them out at the same rate, so therefore you can replace the 4 tyres at the same time instead of only really having to change the worn ones, which in most cases will be the Rears on a RWD, and the Fronts on a FWD.

Personally I prefer new rubber all round when I need new tyres.

Ciao, Bill.

 

[Brian WH]

With all the threads in the last day or so about fitting new tyres. What's the general view about swapping wheels around to even out tyre wear.

Is there an overall gain in tyre life to justify all the jacking and wheel humping?

Most cars wear unevenly, front to back. Our MBs as rear wheel drive tend to wear out the rear more than the front. My last E class wore out my tyres @ 15500 for the rear and 22000 for the front. So there was obvious advantages in swopping as new tyre were fitted ALWAYS to the rear. The rears then went 20000 instead of 15500, when the fronts were ready for new.

On my present W211 the advantages seem far less, as the difference in life is less marked. However to get "maximum life" then swop them and change all four later. Your the one humping wheels, not me.

 

[DieselE]

Most cars wear unevenly, front to back. Our MBs as rear wheel drive tend to wear out the rear more than the front. My last E class wore out my tyres @ 15500 for the rear and 22000 for the front. So there was obvious advantages in swopping as new tyre were fitted ALWAYS to the rear. The rears then went 20000 instead of 15500, when the fronts were ready for new.

On my present W211 the advantages seem far less, as the difference in life is less marked. However to get "maximum life" then swop them and change all four later. Your the one humping wheels, not me.

Your previous E seems to have been heavy on tyres.

At just short of 21k miles, the rear tyres on my car are 3mm in the centre and 4mm at the shoulders (yes, before you comment, the pressures have always been correctly maintained ). The fronts are at just over 5mm except for the extreme outside shoulder.

 

[Brian WH]

Your previous E seems to have been heavy on tyres.

At just short of 21k miles, the rear tyres on my car are 3mm in the centre and 4mm at the shoulders (yes, before you comment, the pressures have always been correctly maintained ). The fronts are at just over 5mm except for the extreme outside shoulder.

I don't know about anyone else, but I wouldn't put 3mm on the front. I would renew the rear ones, your first choice I think.

 

[DieselE]

I don't know about anyone else, but I wouldn't put 3mm on the front. I would renew the rear ones, your first choice I think.

Yes, I think I've missed the boat for swapping with this set. I quoted the figures because I was surprised at how quickly your last car went through tyres.

The reason for starting the thread was to get a view on whether it was going to be worth while making a swap when my next set of rears are part worn.

 

[Brian WH]

Yes, I think I've missed the boat for swapping with this set. I quoted the figures because I was surprised at how quickly your last car went through tyres.

The reason for starting the thread was to get a view on whether it was going to be worth while making a swap when my next set of rears are part worn.

If you renew the rears now, then by the time your front set need renewing you can then swop them. Putting the new tyres on the rear. That way the tyre fitter does the swop for you, at no extra cost.

 

[Dieselman]

At just short of 21k miles, the rear tyres on my car are 3mm in the centre and 4mm at the shoulders (yes, before you comment, the pressures have always been correctly maintained ). The fronts are at just over 5mm except for the extreme outside shoulder.

This is why MB say to rotate the tyres every 6,000 miles or so. The rears will always wear the centre of the tread and the fronts will wear the edges. If you rotate the wheel positions you wear all the tyres across the whole tread. This will have a marked difference on tyre life.
when I had Pirelis on my car I noticed the rears were very worn at 11,000 miles. I rotated the wheels and stopped doing so many traffic light grand prix and got 30,000 miles from the set.

 

[Benzowner]

This is why MB say to rotate the tyres every 6,000 miles or so. The rears will always wear the centre of the tread and the fronts will wear the edges. If you rotate the wheel positions you wear all the tyres across the whole tread. This will have a marked difference on tyre life.
when I had Pirelis on my car I noticed the rears were very worn at 11,000 miles. I rotated the wheels and stopped doing so many traffic light grand prix and got 30,000 miles from the set.

So if you under inflate the rears and over inflate the fronts, will you get even tyre wear?

 

[Satch]

Well worth rotating the tyres, especially on an E class estate. I very nearly missed the boat on this because by time I had notice the OEM Pirelli P7's (horrible!) were getting worn at the back they were visibly concave when off the car. They will be going soon.

Since I have to rotate the tyres on my Land Cruiser every 3000 miles now do the same for the E class. Purchased a 3 ton trolley jack and that makes the entire process so much easier.

And in terms of humping wheels, by comparison to heaving 265/65 R17 tyres mounted on very substantial 6 hole rims on and off the E class is easy!

 

[Shude]

I rotated my tyres recently due to pretty heavy wear in the centre of the rears, causing some traction issues.

The difference is amazing, with about 2.5mm centre but 5/6mm sides on the front and even 4/5s on the rear the traction is great and the steering is very precise! These are my winter tyres and probably won't be on the car much longer, especially if it looks like we might have a summer this year