I was trying to post this question earlier today but I had no luck.
I dropped off my car this morning for the 7,500 miles check-up and my dealer is also going to be rotating the tires. I have a G37S Sedan with a staggered set-up. According to the maintenance book they're not supposed to rotate the tires. But they told me they are going to do a side to side rotation.

Will this cause any issues???
This is the first RWD car I've own and driven since I first got my License in 1980.

And before someone suggest RTFM, I'm at work and I don't have it on me.
Also I picked up my car already about an hour ago.

Thanks.

 

Side to side rotation of the entire wheel/tire unit is possible only if your rear tires are NOT directional (marked with an arrow on the sidewall indicating the direction of forward movement). To rotate these tires side to side you will need to dismount the tires from the wheels and flip them around before mounting on the opposite side wheel so that they rotate in the direction of the arrow.

If they are asymmetrical (marked with "inside" and "outside" designations on the sidewalls) then can be rotated side to side without dismounting the tire from the wheel.

Check to see if your tires have arrow pointing in the correct direction if they are directional.

 

I'm using the stock RE050A's so it should be OK.
Thanks.

 

Assuming they're like the stock RE050As on the G37S Coupe they're directional. You can rotate them side to side but you need to remove the tire from the wheel.

Also you can download manuals from here if you don't have access to one.

Infiniti USA - Manuals & Guides

 

No sir, the RE050A is asymmetrical, not directional. They can be swapped side to side without dismounting them.

I don't know that it does much good though.

 

the wheels are staggered. rotating them will not achieve anything except for poor traction and/or increased tread wear.

if they weren't, yeah rotate them to your hearts content. but S wheels are staggered. even on the Sedan.

 

Huh? How's switching sides going to affect traction and increase tread wear?

 

sorry chronic case of replying without reading entirely.

cross no no

Side to side accomplishes nothing

 

Hey I'm on staggered setup with on the coupe. BB is right, and I just wanted to add that I've heard that folks who do the side to side rotation have sometimes gotten some road/wheel vibrations from this type of a rotation - which may correct itself with some more wear, may not, or may not even happen at all. Just what I heard.

 

Based on your sig, there is no need to rotate tires.

 

Originally Posted by mw09g37
the wheels are staggered. rotating them will not achieve anything except for poor traction and/or increased tread wear.

Some strange stuff what people think on these forums.

 

Not everyone knows that non-sport and AWD cars come with non-staggered tires.

however, the OP's car has staggered tires. There's ZERO reason to rotate the tires, as he can only go left-right. Unless he's racing NASCAR.

 

That might be a good race until Kyle Busch gets pissed.

 

At least Infiniti didn't have the 18" X 7.5" wheels mounted on the rear and the 18" X 8.5" wheels mounted on the front like they did on my car. The funny thing is the 225/50's were on the front wheels (18x8.5) while the 245/45's were on the rear wheels (18x7.5). I only discovered this when I was replacing the stock RE050's at my friend's shop the other day. The wheels had never come off of the car before.

 

I agree only if you dismount the tires to keep them rotating in the same direction. By switching side to side, you change the direction the tires are rotating, otherwise. I've read somewhere long ago that this can help prevent "cupping" of the tread blocks that can tend to make the tires noisier over time.

I don't know if this would make much of a difference on non-drive wheels; but I could see how the tires putting the power to the ground would tend to deform the treadblocks against the pavement as they "push" against the pavement when accelerating, or even maintaining speed. Since they are rubber, they deform as they are pushing. Over time, this wears one side of the tread block more than they other, which, theoretically, creates the "cupping". By switching the rotational direction by rotating side to side, the tread blocks get more even wear, which reduces or eliminates the cupping effect, and keeps the tires quieter over their lifetime. It does NOT prolong tire life, since you aren't swapping back to front on a staggered set up (ie not swapping between drive wheels and non-drive wheels).

I have a 335i Sport with a staggered summer tire setup that are not directional. I've read complaints about the OEM tires getting noisy over time. I've rotated side to side at the beginning of each summer season, and my tires are just as quiet after 20,000 miles of wear as they were when they were new.

So, take with a grain of salt; but I'm a believer in side to side tire rotation that changes the direction of the tire rotation (provided the tire is non-directional).