emcee2

Hi. Question about tire rotation...

I've got an '05 TSX, manual tranny. I'm still have the OEM Michelin MXM4 tires on and they've got about 60K km on them (obviously my driving style isn't really very spirited).

The tires were just put back on the car after having winter wheels/tires on for a few months, and the folks at Costco rotated the tires across the car (diagonally). No big deal on the face of it, but I'm reasonably certain that the tires have only ever been rotated front to back. (based on my tracking of the wheels with curb rash).

The folks at Costco tell me that the diagonal swap is the way it should be done (according to their training from Michelin). The folks at my Acura dealership tell me that it isn't a problem. The folks at Michelin support line tell me that's not a problem. So what's my problem?

Everyone seem to reference new tires, and somewhere in the depths of my mind I have this idea that suddenly running tires in the opposite direction so long into their lifespan is a bad idea.

I likely wouldn't have even thought about this if it were not for the fact that the car really wants to drift to the left now. The guys at Costco said they could balance them (again), but essentially said that even if I asked them to swap the 2 tires that have moved back to the other side they would not do that - which I find quite annoying.

You may be tempted to suggest that it is really time to get a new set of tires anyway... and that's a possibility, but between the fact that tires still have left in the them (4/32 & 5/32 respectively, per pair) and the fact that I dropped the best part of $1600 on winter tires/wheels only a few months ago (completely unnecessary as it turns out as we've had virtually no snow here in Vancouver this "winter"), you might appreciate the fact that dropping another $1000 on "summer" tires can wait until next spring.

So, what's the story. Is there really no issue at all running tires in the opposite direction during the last part of their life?

Simba91102

The OE Michelin's are not directional, so in theory it's OK to rotate them diagonally. And..... though in the early days of radial tires, you were supposed to keep them on the same side of the car because the belts would take a "set", that is supposedly no longer a problem. All that said, after 4 or 5 years and 36K+ miles on the same side, I'd say there's little doubt that your drift to the left is due to the tire change. If you don't want to replace the tires, then don't. But.... it might be worth putting the respective tires back on their original side of the car. And if Costco won't do it, then go somewhere else. I do all my own tire work, so it unlikely I would encounter this problem, but if I did, the pull to one side would drive me nuts. Oh, and I still keep radial tires on the same side whether or not they're directional.

emcee2

Thanks for the insight. Cheers,

Itchytoe

Everyone is right. Turning the tire the other direction doesn't have a negative impact on the tire (assuming you're using tires made in the last decade or two).
Switching the tires back will probably fix the pulling. Your tires probably pull to the right when on the other side, but your alignment could be off countering that pull. Those are 5 year old tires, and are pretty close the the wear bars, so I'd suggest a new set and an alignment, but you don't "need" a new set yet.

emcee2

For what it is worth... went back to Costco, spoke with a different tech/associate and explained my issue. She happily swapped the front tires back across the vehicle... and now the vehicle pulls to the right.
That actually makes me happy (or happier)... at least it isn't going to drift into oncoming traffic, and it suggests that my alignment is probably OK - which I thought might be the case since it seemed to run pretty true with the new winter tires on.
That said, I will likely get the alignment redone-checked when I next get new tires...
Thanks!