Swapping tyres

[volvocamper]

Am having 1st service on my 1 yr old R-Design tomorrow (8000miles) and have a tyre question. Fronts hv 5mm and rears 6-7mm tread on original Pirelli's, is the Volvo dealer likely to swap these tyres about and if so is this a good idea? if yes wd front to back or diagonally be best option?

[moncman]

Dealer will probably not swap unless you ask at which point they may charge you for it.

Personally I do swap to maximise and aim to get the best tread on the front. This is contrary to modern thinking where tyre fitters tend to put new rubber on the back. The theory is most drivers are able to deal with understeer in an emergency than the back breaking loose. I was brought up with RWD and prefer to have the front dig in.

Front to back is okay but diagonal is not recommended from modern radial tyres are they bed-in rolling a certain way. A diagonal swap in essence has them rolling backwards which is not good. This is obviously especially so if you have unidirectional tyres.

[wadhurstdaisy]

Would def swap them front to back now otherwise they will be even more out of sync in no time at all at which point I wouldn't swap them.

Just keep in mind that by swapping them (and again in another 5-8k miles) you'll end up having to replace all 4 tyres at the same time so best start budgeting for that. Also worth having 4-wheel laser alignment.

Dave.

[volvocamper]

ok Dave, thanks for your views and guess you wd swap then front to back on same sides? Wear seems completely even across all tyres and I am VV Careful with it ie no kerbs hit etc to date, why the 4 wheel alignment pls? I wd want to replace all 4 tyres at same time and hope to get approx 20k miles out of the set, at current wear rate wd that be about right?

[RFW]

The handbook also indicates a front-to-rear swap rather than diagonal, here are the words form the 2010 edition

"To avoid differences in tread depth and to prevent wear patterns arising, the front and rear wheels can be switched with each other. A suitable distance for the first change is approx. 5,000 km and then at 10,000 km intervals."

[azibux1]

Originally Posted by volvocamper

why the 4 wheel alignment pls?

The 4 wheel alignment makes sure that once the wheels are swapped around, they are all pointing perfectly straight and not pulling over to one side. This is done with a device that fits on each wheel and they communicate with each other, they're connected to a computer.

Hope this helped

[bobdabuilda]

and more often than not you end up with your steering wheel not pointing straight when going straight!!!! So much for the computer systems! Three times at different places with different cars and all the same result so it can't be coincidence in my eyes!

[volvocamper]

It drives straight, pulls up straight, steering wheel perfectly straight (just as it was 1 yr ago when new),tyres show no adverse/uneven wear and car has not been kerbed or the like, why may it need 4 wheel alignment?

[azibux1]

Originally Posted by volvocamper

It drives straight, pulls up straight, steering wheel perfectly straight (just as it was 1 yr ago when new),tyres show no adverse/uneven wear and car has not been kerbed or the like, why may it need 4 wheel alignment?

because the wheels are aligned and balanced as they are now, when you swap back to front they may need realigning/maybe balancing.

Hope it helped

[moncman]

Originally Posted by azibux1

because the wheels are aligned and balanced as they are now, when you swap back to front they may need realigning/maybe balancing.

Hope it helped

Sorry I can't agree.

The steering geometery (caster/camber/toe-in/out) is dependant on the suspension/axle settings. Yes it is done with sensors on the wheels but unless the wheel has been damaged each wheel should be identical to the nearest <1mm. If the wear is even and it does not pull I would leave well alone. I have experence of tinkering with alignment and after over £100 it was no better than before.