rotating tires on AWD

I was speaking with the owner of a brand new Jeep Cherokee and they told me the dealer advised them NOT to rotate the tires on an AWD car, something about the constant change putting unnecessary strain on the AWD system...sound kind of wacky, does this hold true for our cars as well?

I call bullshit.. I have been rotating the tires on my Subbie for over 4 years and really happy with the thread wear on it... Thats my opinion Can anybody else chime in?

You want all the tires to be within 1/4" (I believe) of each other. If there is uneven wear and you get outside of that threshold, it's terrible on the AWD.

 

Plus it's in the owners manual. I'd trust the guys who designed and built the car over one idiot with a brand new Jeep Cherokee and his idiot dealer.

You do need to rotate the tires regularly.

 

Owners manual calls for all tires within 1/4" ROLLING DIAMETER. That part is key. It works out to be a barely noticable difference in tread depth, less than 1/16th of an inch IIRC.

Keep in mind if you have directional tires it's a no no.

Keep in mind if you have directional tires it's a no no.

 

You should still rotate front to back in this case.

I sometimes think rotating them twice a year isn't often enough.

Rotating directional tires is a no-no? False. You just rotate them front to back to balance the fact that the fronts will wear faster than the rears.

 

That's what I meant.

I sometimes think rotating them twice a year isn't often enough.

 

I wear out the drivers side at twice the rate due to all the 180-360 degree off and on ramps we have. I tend to swap side to side once I notice the uneven wear.

Good points. As for myself, I get mine rotated every 10k miles or so and will continue to do so.

Direction tires: just swap the fronts with the rears.

Non-directional tires: swap fronts to the rears, then left rear to right front, and right rear to left front.

My understanding is that the non-directional rotation you described is for FWD cars.

RWD and AWD (unless they're staggered sizes or directional) use the opposite: front right to rear left, front left to rear right, rears straight to the front.