[theotherjohn]

Why does BMW advise against evening out tyre wear by swapping front to back? Manufacturers used to reccomend this - indeed before tyres were made with specific rotation direction a diagonal swap was reccomended.
So what's changed?

[ovekvam]

If your driving pattern wears the tires unevenly, and you rotate them to somewhere else on the car, you will get a very different contact patch shape. This changes the balance of the car. If you are aware of this, and can handle it, you can safely rotate the tires (assuming they are the same size front and rear).

[amberzombie]

Originally Posted by theotherjohn

Why does BMW advise against evening out tyre wear by swapping front to back? Manufacturers used to reccomend this - indeed before tyres were made with specific rotation direction a diagonal swap was reccomended.
So what's changed?

I thought All BMW cars have wider rear tires so quite literally you can't swap them back to front????

[fuzzer]

Also directional tyres need to stay in the same side and not opposite sides as was the traditional way of rotation

[ovekvam]

Originally Posted by amberzombie

I thought All BMW cars have wider rear tires so quite literally you can't swap them back to front????

No, quite a few of the wheel sets have square setups with same size front and rear. I run 205 front and rear both for my summer and winter tires.

[ovekvam]

Originally Posted by fuzzer

Also directional tyres need to stay in the same side and not opposite sides as was the traditional way of rotation

But I think that is also not all that important, at least not for summer tires. The theory in marketing is that the arrow shaped tread pattern is supposed to drain water better, but it is hyped up. I have tested running the tires backwards on very wet tracks (standing water), and it was not possible to notice any difference in performance. You will also see that some of the asymmetrical tires have arrow tread patterns running backwards on one side of the car. The tire manufacturers wouldn't do that if it really matters.

For winter tires it might be a different story, as they sometimes eject snow from the thread pattern by tire flex.

[MartinHattingh]

I recently (at 5000km) rotated front to back only, as I was definitely noticing the more pronounced wear to be expected on the outer edges of the front tyres.

About 2000km later I can already see the wear evening out. Can't say I noticed any difference in handling immediately after the swop. At this point, everything feels perfectly balanced as before.

[ovekvam]

It was more risky to rotate the tires in older cars without stability system. If the balance changes slightly on a modern car, you will hardly notice it.