Tire rotation

RES

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 21, 1999
Location
TRUMBULL,CT. USA
TDI
2000 Jetta TDI, 1997 Passat (Totaled in Accident) 2010 Jetta Sportwagon TDI
I normally cross rotate my tires and have been doing so for years. Tire rack has some advice on tire rotation. You may want to check them out.
 

dieseldorf

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 11, 2000
Location
MA
TDI
ex- 1996 wagon, ex-2000 Jetta
Here's the link to Tire Rack's Owner's Manual .

FWD cars: Front tires move straight back while the rear tires cross to the opposite side on the front.

RWD cars: Rear tires move straight to the front while the fronts cross to the opposite side on the rear.

There are some other patterns noted in Tire Rack's little booklet.
 

dieseldorf

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 11, 2000
Location
MA
TDI
ex- 1996 wagon, ex-2000 Jetta
Originally posted by POWERSTROKE:
No I mean physically, without a lift? Do you use the spare so that you can do the rotation?
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes, using the spare or one of your dedicated snow tire/wheel assys is probably the safest thing to do.

Our RWD car has a space saver spare so I just use that as I am going thru the rotation sequence. Haven't come up with any other way to do it.

If you are just going to do a F<>R swap on your car, you can jack up one side of the vehicle just far enough to have both wheels lift off the ground. If you wish to cross your tires from side to side, this procedure won't work.
 

dieseldorf

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 11, 2000
Location
MA
TDI
ex- 1996 wagon, ex-2000 Jetta
with a substantial floor jack...I am not referring to the jack supplied with the vehicle.
 

Variant TDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2002
Location
SS, MD.
TDI
2002 Golf Variant, Reflex Silver
The stock jack will jack up both sides of the car.... but I certainly don't recommend it. I also use a hydraulic floor jack, and a 2' long piece of 2x4 to spread the lift force.

I might be old-skool, but when I put a tire on, and make it go one way for 5-10k miles... I generally frown upon reversing it's direction.
 

Turbo D

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2002
Location
San Jose , CA
TDI
Jetta, 2000, Tornado red
Hi People, I just got a nice floor jack and discovered there is no place to place it where it won't bend the metal seam. I was thinking about slotting a fairly long section of 2x4 and placing it into the sheetmetal seam, then placing the jack underneath. If I make the 2x4 long enought, then I can place the jack stand beside the jack, lower the car on the jackstand and move to the other wheel. Is a 2x4 strong enough with a slot cut into it? Also, for proper rotation, it's Front to Back on each side right?
 
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