I've seen in the owners manual a warning not to rotate wheels front to back on the car. Do they use different size wheels (width? offset?) front and back?
Ok... I'm ready for you guys to object vociferously... but here goes...
I don't think you should rotate tires at all, particularly for these cars. I contend that tires wear in for their own particular location on a car. As they do so, the tire patch expands, finds it's most efficient location under load, with the suspension, with your roads, and with your driving style. The speed of wearing slows. When you rotate the wheels, I contend the tires are now uncomfortable, you lose a bit of control and handling over the short-term, and the tires have to wear in to their spot all over again. Just after rotating, the rate of wear is high again and the contact patch is smaller and displaced from it's natural state. As they wear in all over again, the rate of wear eventually slows down as they get comfortable again and the tire patch returns to normal.
These beliefs come from many years paying attention to a wide variety of sources and educated comments on forums and such. I also see a conflict of interest when tire manufacturers and dealerships push tire rotation... If it causes tires to wear more quickly, they enhance their profits a bit, no? I also think that tire rotation is so deeply entrenched in our culture that people strongly believe it is true and right, even if it isn't really.
I'm willing to learn more and change my opinion, of course, but this is where I've ended up after years of careful contemplation and discussions.
