MickeyS

What is the proper way to rotate the tires on the GX and how frequent should be done?

Craig B

Every 5000 miles and rotate front to back, don't cross rotate...

MickeyS

So the front tires go in the back and the back in the front without crossing them?

T4Fun

actually some of these tires are bi directional, so you can move them from side to side if you want. I have the michelins which are bi directional

Koz

I move rear to front and cross front to rear. Has given me the best mileage so far on 4wd vehicles.

Koz

Craig B

Yes, my dealer says not to cross rotate...

closenough

Per the Lexus GX Owners Manual page 631 (can be found online) tire rotation is: Driver's side, front to rear. Passenger side, Front to spare, back to front, and spare to back.

So the driver's side will need replacement before the pass side. Seems odd, but that's what the recommend.

SaniDel

Thanks for finding that for us. It was on page 627 of my owners manual, which I have appended.

We can speculate about why it is asymmetric, but the answer may simply be there's no better way to equalize the wear of five tires without meticulous record keeping, i.e., making sure every tire gets the same amount of "road time". However, there may be another reason that the passenger side tires get more wear, which is because they have to resist the tendency of all vehicles to slide to the edge because roads have a 'crown' to shed rain water ... I'm just saying.
Regards,

SaniDel

Koz

I don't use the spare in the rotation.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=43

Koz

SaniDel

You don't use the spare in the rotation because the Tire Rack says so ... in spite of what is in your owners manual or because you are aware of another reason not to include the spare?

In general, I follow what is in the owners manual even if it conflicts with public information, presuming that "Lexus knows best". More to the point, since Lexus warrants the vehicle, there seems little to be gained and much to be lost by ignoring the owners manual. However, there may be a good reason to ignore the owners manual and one good reason is that Lexus doesn't warrant the tires ... the tire manufacturer does.

May we know your reason ... other than the Tire Rack says so?
Regards,

SaniDel

Craig B

Yes, my spare wheel is not chromed like my other four. I think it's stupid to rotate using the spare. I've never done that with any vehicle...

Koz

I do not rotate the spare because there is no need to add the expense of the fifth tire (plus mount/balance), when the OEM spare can be used for at least 2 or 3 sets of tires. I also don't like the idea of a tire having a 5/6K mile wear difference on the same axle. There is no reason why you can't cross bi-directional tires and by doing so I have found you get more even wear on all four tires. The only reason I used tirerack was because it displays all the different options.

Koz

Doc H

Which leads to another question since the OEM tires are usually "disposable" and will need replacement earlier than, let's say, a premium tire. When you replace the tires, do you also replace the spare with the same type if you switch brands/type, or since it's unused (if you don't rotate), just leave it since you don't plan on running on the spare long? Just curious....

Luke27617

iTrader: (2)

I have replaced to LTX MS2 tires the first week I got the truck w/o cost thanks to a great Michelin warranty. Spare was left with an old Michelin. I do not rotate with the spare and recomendations in the manual do not make any sense if the vehicle doesn't have an excesive wear on driver side (design issue). Maybe if I double my weight, it will make sense with the extra weight

SaniDel

Thanks for your inputs, but now I am confused. It seems that our spare tires may be different than our road tires ... several of you mentioned the term OEM. Does this mean that our spares are "not as good" as the road tires? If so, that is a very good reason not to include them in rotation, but how would we know if they are "not as good" ... other than something obvious such as their rating?
Regards,

SaniDel