I have about 12K on my 05 H2 and should probably rotate the tires. The owners manual says to rotate in the X pattern but my tire shop says their experience is swapping front to back on the same side is better. What do the rest of you guys do?

If you do a front to back swap, is there a point on the side frame to lift both the front and back tires on the same side to make this easy?
David

i wanna know the same damn thing somebody like phil needs to nut up and answer for a brother!!!

Dealer did mine at 10k. Not sure if it was X Pattern though.

The rule of thumb with radials has always been front to back. Our fleet of both cars and trucks has been done this way for years and has proven to maximize mileage wear.

From the service manual front to back crossed and rears straight ahead.

<STRIKE>I take the spare and put it on the drivers side front. (just to have a starting point) Take the driver side front and put it on the drivers side rear. Drivers side rear then goes up on the passenger side front which then goes on passenger side rear which ends up being the spare till next time.</STRIKE>

<span class="ev_code_BLUE">Need to edit/correct the above, (head was up ass when I wrote it the first time) I put the spare to drivers side front, that one then goes to passenger rear, it then goes to passenger front which goes to drivers rear and it ends up as the spare.

After reading DrG's post below was when I caught my mistake, the X pattern way of rotation does in effect make two of the tires rotate in the opposite direction and that helps to even out the heel/toe he brought up below in his post that does happen to the tires. Sorry for the bad info.</span>

I rotate them every oil change. The truck has about 42,000 miles on it and the tires are wearing pretty even from what I can tell.

I went back to my tire shop today to get a clarification on what they told me. Today my mechanic recommended the crossed pattern the manual shows, because he was able to see some early wear that he called a heel/toe pattern. What I learned is that the early radials didn't do well being crossed over as they tended to seperate more easily but todays radials can easily be switched from one side to another. I also found out that agressive tread patterns like the ones shown in the above pictures, need to be rotated more than a less agressive pattern like a straight ribbed pattern. The most interesting point was how to spot early wear. Using one of the lugs like I circled in the picture, slide a finger over the break in the lug rubber seen just below the thick red line I added to the picture. Slide your finger from front to back over the outside lugs with with your finger pointing to the back of the vehicle. On my front tires, there is definitely a ledge between the two pieces of rubber that form that lug, while the two pieces of rubber seen to be the same hieght on my rear tires. On the fronts, the back part of the ledge is higher than the front. Although I can't see it, I can feel it. My guy says the first 2 or 3 rotations are the most important and he recommends rotating every other oil change, and we change at 3,000 miles.
David

That pattern is what I do. I just put the front on jack stands and then lift each side of the rear one side at a time. I swap the passenger rear (really its the front driver coming off) with the spare.

dealer told me that the best way was to go back to front on the same side, so i listened

That seems to be the conventional wisdom and matches the manual.
David

TRUE,but i was thinking since my tires are nitto mud grapplers they were a whole different animal not to mention that they are 37x13.50

the dealer told you somehthing else and you are too ****ing dense to understand what he said.

Also, DrG, conventional wisdom nor the manual supports keeping the tires on the same side of the vehicle in rotation. Do you people need to have someone explain how to check your oil?

ROTATE THE DAMN TIRES THE WAY THE MANUAL HAS STATED BELOW AND FORGET ABOUT IT. IT'S THE WAY YOU DO IT.

I just can't wait until I can be a deity and be rude to people. It almost makes you not want to post a question around here.

Now that I reread the statement, I see that it does not address what to do with the front tires. I thought he was crossing the fronts as they were moved to the back but actually he doesn't say. You're right, follow the manual on this one . . . and chill on the rest.
David

Yep, done that head trick a couple of times too. I was debating whether or not to add the spare to the mix as I don't think the manual addressed that but your method makes sense.
I'm curious, is that 42,000 on original tires?
Would you put the same brand back on when these are wornout?
David

I swap the tires from front to back about every 20k. My h2 has 86,000 miles and still has two original tires on it. They both need to be replaced now , but i dont believe the cross pattern is any better. And personally i think it unravels the tire internally. my .02

DrG, Yes they are and yes I would.


I guess it depends on what year of truck you have as to wether or not you would want to include the spare or not.

This picture is from the 2003 manual and looks the same as PARAGON's above.

This is out of the 2005 Manual, thay added the extra line.

Tires will "rot" over time so I might as well use the spare and get as many miles out of the five as I can and worry about wether or not to buy four or five new one's when the time comes.

Good point. I did my rotation today and put the spare on LF and followed the owners manual diagram which worked out to put the LR up as spare. Now I'm curuious why the owners manual says not to include the spare. Maybe my dealer service guy knows.
Those tires and wheels are a lot heavier and bigger than I thought!! I was looking for the wheel nut torque in the owners manual but couldn't find it but now I see a reference to it on these pages you posted. I was looking for a listing of all the torques but I'm probably thinking of factory service manuals, not owners manuals.
I'm going to the Hummer Club event next week in Fredericksburg Texas so I wanted to the this wheel and tire stuff out of the way before leaving.
David