Reply With QuoteFor advice and recommendations on maintenance regarding tyres in active service, the operator should always defer to the vehicle manufacturer in the first instance and the tyre manufacturer in the second instance.
In principle, Volkswagen recommends regularly rotating the tyres, but do not specify an interval. As per above, this means the operator must then seek the advice of the tyre manufacturer - which is to say (in the absence of specific recommendations from the vehicle manufacturer) that most major tyre manufacturers recommend that a tyre rotation be performed every 5 000 to 10 000 km. As a guide, the faster the vehicle promotes irregular wear patterns on its tyres, the sooner the rotation interval should be, and vice versa.
This was not an issue when vehicle service intervals were short, but the advent of extended service intervals has turned it into an issue of convenience, where the operator now has to arrange for the vehicle to have its tyres rotated out of sync with the vehicle manufacturer's scheduled service intervals.
Despite that, tyre rotations are not part of the scheduled service for Volkswagen vehicles and most dealers will charge the work separately and in addition to the routine service work.
I offer my own opinion on the issue and recommend one of two actions:
1. To arrange for the vehicle to have its tyres rotated every 7 500 km for Volkswagen vehicles on a 15 000 km service interval.
The rationale being that for tyres to benefit from rotation, it must be performed regularly, with the aim of preventing the tyre from semi-permanently forming undesirable tread wear patterns. As the tread compound ages, the longer it is left on a particular axle position, the harder it is for the tyre to level out wear patterns using tyre rotations. In this instance, I recommend using the forward-cross rotation pattern for vehicles with a FWD layout, as this allows all tyres to be eventually fitted on each of four axle positions at one stage or another during their service life.
2. Do not rotate the tyres at all.
If regular tyre rotations cannot be arranged and the driver does not notice any unusual noises from the tyres, it may be better to leave the tyres in their respective axle positions.
However, if tread noise becomes a significant issue, it may be worth rotating the tyres using the front-to-rear rotation pattern, where the front and rear tyre positions are simply swapped (without any cross or side rotations). If not successful, either performing a forward-cross rotation, X rotation pattern, shaving the tread surface (as is practiced in motorsport - in extreme cases) or purchasing new tyres may be the only solution.
On the issue of tyre balancing, while it is not inconceivable that the wheel assembly may become unbalanced during its service life (for instance, the wheel balance weights may fall off from kerbing, a weak glue compound or improper fitting procedures), it is not common and should only need rebalancing if vibrations are felt from the steering wheel or the chassis itself at a specific speed or speed range.
Originally Posted by Diesel_vert
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