When to rotate these tires and which pattern? Alignment? Happy Thanksgiving

[mountainwalker]

Happy Thanksgiving to you and all your loved ones.

 

Driving a Subaru Outback 2003 VDC 3L H6 in great condition and running Michellin Performance Primacy MXV4 225/60R16 98H from Costco. Costco's general tire rotation recommendation is every 7500 miles. I just did a first rotation at 8,201 miles. Should I do my next rotation close to another 8,201 miles to keep things relatively even, or sooner at 7 or 7500 miles? 

Also Costco rotated them front to back and back to front, keeping the tires on the same side (in other words, R front and R rear switched, and L front and L rear switched). Is this always the correct pattern?

 

Generally how soon after tire rotation to you go for wheel alignment? Barring any particularly jarring pothole or bump, how often do you align your wheels? 

Edited November 25, 2014 by mountainwalker

[Rooster2]

I try to get tires rotated at 6,000 miles. Yes, rotating tires front to rear, rear to front, keeping tires on same side of the car is what I have been told is the thing to do. Michelin makes great tires that are very round, and don't need frequent balancing.

 

I prolly get a 4 wheel alignment about every 20 K miles. Sooner, if I feel the steering wheel pulling to one side.

 

I make it a point to check tire pressure once per month, and air up any tire that may have lost a little air. If I see a tire that seems to be loosing more air then usual, then I look for a nail in the tire that could be causing the air loss.

[keith3267]

My preference is to get a tire depth gauge and rotate the tires when there is a 2/32" difference between the deepest and shallowest tires.  This keeps the tire circumference within Subaru specifications and minimizes the number of rotations required.

 

If you don't use a tire depth gauge, then you establish a tire rotation schedule for every 7500 miles.  That is you set the schedule for current mileage plus 7500, 15k, 22.5k, 30k ect.  You should rotate the tires with in 750 miles of each target (+/- 10%).

 

So if you put the tires on at 62k miles, you would set the schedule for 69.5k, 77k, 84.5k etc.  If you did the first rotation at 70.2k instead of 69.5k, you still target the next rotation for 84.5k (83.75-85.25k).  You follow the same logic for your oil changes as well.

 

As for the pattern, I like many other prefer this pattern.  It is the correct pattern for directional tires.  Your tires are not directional tires so the rear tires can be crossed when moved to the front if you desire.  Its not supposed to hurt them, but I'm old school and old school guys do not change the direction of radial tires once they have taken a set.

 

In the early days of radial tires, changing direction for high speed driving (in other words, backing up is OK) would cause the belts to delaminate.  This is not supposed to happen with modern radials.

Edited November 25, 2014 by keith3267