Tire Rotation in 2003 VW Jetta Wagon

I've looked for this info here, and may have asked about this once, but I'm still a little unsure. Do the TDI's need the same sort of rotation schedule as normal cars?

I read on some internet answer site that VW's don't need tire rotation, so therein lies the confusion.

I'm planning to do it, if I don't hear otherwise. Sure hope I can get those tires off. No clue when it was done last.

rotate your tires every oil change.
For sure, they will wear more evenly.

billybgame said:

I've looked for this info here, and may have asked about this once, but I'm still a little unsure. Do the TDI's need the same sort of rotation schedule as normal cars?

I read on some internet answer site that VW's don't need tire rotation, so therein lies the confusion.

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VWs need tire rotations, just like most others. The right front tire will wear fastest, the left rear tire the slowest. If your tires are not directional, you can rotate side to side -- the tires will say on the sidewall if they are directional.

Every 10k Is what is what I do.

I get free rotation at Sam's Club so I usually get them rotated about every 3,000 -4,000 miles. I know that's probably a little extreme, but oh well. Hopefully the tires will last to their 80,000 mile warranty this way.

-Brian

merkerguitars said:

Every 10k Is what is what I do.

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__. That's about right. Due to lack of shop space, tools, etc., I rotate side to side on my wagon (and my previous Jetta sedan) and MzLauraLee's waggin. That's not prefect but it makes a lot of difference. (I got over 87K out of my original Michelins on my sedan - and they could have had a few more miles squeezed out of them even then.)

__. When I say "side to side" above, I mean right rear to right front, etc. I'd love to have a lift so I could "X" over but you live with what you have.

Doesn't the manual/bently say do to front-to-rear anyways?

At the dealership and independent shop I work at we always do front to rear due to if the tires are directional the x method rotate doesn't really work out.

10,000 miles and fronts to rears and rears to fronts are the oem recommendations.

Since the right front wears faster as Tornado Red indicates, I use a 5 tire (spare) X rotation, so that EVERY TIRE (at some 10,000 mile interval) gets on the right front. (As you can surmise the oem recommendation puts 2/5 tires on the right front-the side that wears more) Also the 5th tire (in effect) compensates for the extra wear on the right front. In addition, you don't have one tire (spare) with full tread, that you might/ not match on the next set. I am due a 10,000 mile rotation on oem tires at 110,000 miles. It looks good to go to at least the rotation after, @ 120,000 miles.

If you decide to do the X rotation 1. Cross the rears to the fronts 2. fronts straight back

5th tire rotation 1. cross the left rear to the right fronts 2. cross the right rear to left front 3. left front to left rear 3. right front to spare 4. spare to right rear

In the case of "directional" tires, the min (best) are three right side directional tires.

tire rotation

Ruking on the 5 tire rotation, did you purchase a rim that matches your other 4 tires or does it look like your driving a redneck car?

5 rims and tires came standard with the car. But I do have 4 more rims, for a total of 9 rims.

The Owner's Manual for my 05 Golf has a diagram showing front to rear and vise versa for each side. It states to do this if the front tires show considerably more wear than the rear tires.

To repeat what I posted above, if the tires are not directional, then you may rotate side-to-side as well as front-to-back. I have heard that if tires have been driven one way for 30k miles or so, they may not track as well if you rotate them to the other side. But I think I've done that and didn't notice any problems.