What is the correct tire rotation pattern?

NutzAboutBoltz has a video of tire rotation for gen 3s.

 

Re: cross rotation of tyres, some tyres these days have a rotational direction. That means that you cannot interchange left and right tyres or they will rotate in the wrong direction. In the olden days, tyres with a rotational direction were very rare. So that's probably where the different instruction between gen 1 and 2/3 comes from.
That having said: rotate tyres? I haven't done that on any of my cars. The only "rotation" I do is when two tyres need to be changed, I make sure that they go on front.

 

Old thread, but I'm with Maarten28. I have -never- rotated the tires on Pearl S (other than when moving the car that is ). They seem to wear evenly regardless.

 

In the U.S., when buying only two new ties, many shops won't put them on the front. Management safety policy requires they go on back.

This practice seems to derive from the tendency of old-technology cars to lose directional control during hard emergency braking. The tires with better traction stop shorter, while the poorer set continues to slide. When that extra sliding is on the rear, that tends to cause the rear to swing around the front. Most normal drivers, myself included, don't handle emergency maneuvering well when facing backwards.

When the rear tires have the better grip, the car tends to stay pointed forward, allowing better driver control. Plus, in the event of a crash, the primary occupant protection features remain best oriented to perform their functions.

With the addition of ABS and stability control, the tendency of modern cars to spin out is significantly reduced, but not eliminated. These systems cannot magically create traction out of thin ice.

Regular tire rotations help minimize this front/back traction asymmetry over the life of the tire set. This completely avoids the 'best tires on front or rear' dispute. Approximately matched, symmetric traction is better than either.

With separate summer and winter tire sets (on separate rims, so no yearly remounting or long waiting lines with the first winter storm warning), my tire rotations occur with the seasonal tire swap. Thus, it creates no extra cost or labor.

 

Uhm, yeah, I got it wrong. The best tyres go on the rear wheels.