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I own a 2021 AMG C43, equipped from the factory with the following tires:
Front: 225/45 R18 95H M S Continental ProContact GX SSR Rear: 245/40 R18 97H M S Continental ProContact GX SSR
My question
Given that the tires are staggered, do I need to rotate them periodically?
What I've learned so far
The 2021 C-Class owner's manual states: "On vehicles that have the same size front and rear wheels, rotate the wheels according to the intervals in the tire manufacturer's warranty book in your vehicle documents." I do have the same size wheels front and rear (18"), but the profile of the tires is different (225/45 front vs. 245/40 rear), so it's unclear to me if I can safely rotate my tires front to back. My guess is that this is not recommended. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything in the owner's manual about what to do for models with staggered tire setups. Nor could I find anything in the AMG Supplement booklet.
A similar question was asked in the GLE forum, but there didn't seem to be a definitive answer in that thread.
My understanding is that if I were to rotate the tires, my only option would be swapping the rear left tire with the rear right tire and front left tire with front right tire. However, I'm not sure how much benefit this would provide with balancing out the overall wear.
I appreciate any help you can provide. If this question has already been answered elsewhere on the forums, it would be great if you can please provide a link to the relevant thread.
Actually, you'll find that your wheels are different widths, 7.5 front and 8.5 rear ... so they are not the same size. You can/should rotate side-to-side BUT ONLY IF the tires are non-directional. E.G., my winter Michelin X-ice Xi3 tires are directional so can't be rotated. Directional tires have a marking showing that they are to be mounted such that the tire rotates in the indicated direction ... E.G.:
You can't rotate front to back with staggered wheels. We had a C350 where the tire store, changing from winter to summer tires, installed the rear tires on the front and the front tires on the rear, the dufusses.
They didn't bother reading the tire label. The wider rear tires would scrape the from wheel wells when cornering.
I never went back to that tire shop for sure. I now do tire swaps myself.
We also had an '81 Corvette with staggered wheels when the wheels got mixed up as well, while they didn't rub against wheel wells when cornering, on rutted pavement it became a wrestling match with the steering wheel.
As user33 says, only left to right and only if the tires are non-directional.
Actually, you'll find that your wheels are different widths, 7.5 front and 8.5 rear ... so they are not the same size. You can/should rotate side-to-side BUT ONLY IF the tires are non-directional. E.G., my winter Michelin X-ice Xi3 tires are directional so can't be rotated. Directional tires have a marking showing that they are to be mounted such that the tire rotates in the indicated direction ... E.G.:
Sounds good. Thanks, everyone, for the replies. I don't see any directional markings on my tires, so I plan to swap the left tire with the right one for the fronts and for the rears.
Rotating tires from side to side doesn't really do anything unless you turn the tires around on the wheel, so that the inside becomes the outside to even out the wear. Most performance tires are not directional, but they have a dedicated outside, so this is not possible, either. If you just swap left to right, the inner edge is still the inner edge and you actually change the rotational direction of the tires, which causes the belts to have to resettle in a different direction.
Rotating tires from side to side doesn't really do anything unless you turn the tires around on the wheel ...
Well, not always. If you're biased in your driving and regularly take right-hand (or left-hand) corners more aggressively than the other-hand corners (and many, if not most, people are and do) or if you track your car on a track with predominantly one-handed turns -- i.e., if you have any situation where one side's wear is different from the other side's wear -- then rotating side-to-side will help promote more even tire wear, both across the tread and with tread-depth.
Another factor for the rear tires is that, if you're at all spinning the rears on a C43 (yes, it can happen) you don't have a locking differential so it's normal that one side will spin more than the other side, depending upon the car's attitude when the spinning occurs. That can also cause uneven side-to-side wear.
I do agree that side-to-side rotation won't help the biased across-tread wear caused by camber (assuming your left/right camber settings are equal).
Well, not always. If you're biased in your driving and regularly take right-hand (or left-hand) corners more aggressively than the other-hand corners (and many, if not most, people are and do) or if you track your car on a track with predominantly one-handed turns -- i.e., if you have any situation where one side's wear is different from the other side's wear -- then rotating side-to-side will help promote more even tire wear, both across the tread and with tread-depth.
Another factor for the rear tires is that, if you're at all spinning the rears on a C43 (yes, it can happen) you don't have a locking differential so it's normal that one side will spin more than the other side, depending upon the car's attitude when the spinning occurs. That can also cause uneven side-to-side wear.
I do agree that side-to-side rotation won't help the biased across-tread wear caused by camber (assuming your left/right camber settings are equal).
Agreed, but honestly most people drive these cars in the daily grunt commuting to work in stop&go traffic etc. There can definitely be slight differences in wear left to right. For example I currently have the belts showing on the inner edge of my right rear tire in my C63, but both rear tires are essentially worn at this point. Rotating wouldn't have done much. Getting a new set put on on Thursday. I do spin my rear tires regularly and take aggressive corners, so this is no surprise, but again, rotating left to right wouldn't have materially extended the life of the tires.
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