Tire balance problem solved with comments

[Humble Pie]

Originally Posted by csimo

Sounds very strange to me. Why would the dealer (or anyone else) dismount the tires to do a tire rotation?

When the tires are mounted at the factory it's not like at a tire shop. The machine presses them straight on the rim... doesn't rotate around the bead like a tire machine so I doubt it could have happened at the factory.

The truck originally came with stock rims, they did the swap to the OEM chrome wheels 14 months ago when I bought the truck....it's really odd that it took this long for the bubbles in the sidewall to start showing and for the handling problems to start developing.....I noticed it right after the tires were rotated / crossed at 20,000 miles about a month ago....then it got progressively worse......

[Bull Durham Blue]

Originally Posted by Humble Pie

About a month ago, I had my tires rotated (crossed) for the 3rd time at 20,000 miles.....

I thought radial tires were always to be rotated front to back, not crossed. Is this wrong?

I'm glad your dealer stepped up, and the tires didn't blow out. I guess they're pretty good tires.

[Humble Pie]

Originally Posted by Bull Durham Blue

I thought radial tires were always to be rotated front to back, not crossed. Is this wrong?

I'm glad your dealer stepped up, and the tires didn't blow out. I guess they're pretty good tires.

According to these guys, it was fine....the tires are Michelin and are the stock tires on the Ridgeline....I think they are great.....from reading the tire posts on this forum, I may not have to buy tires until I hit 80,000 on the truck since some of the members are getting 50 to 60 thousand on a set.....should help with my maintenance costs over time.....I still can't understand how they lasted 20,000 miles with "improper mounting" and the tear I saw in the inside of the left front tire....amazing I didn't have a blow out.....

[Webwader]

I thought radial tires were always to be rotated front to back, not crossed. Is this wrong?

When radials were first introduced, this was correct. Today the recommended method is cross rotation. The tires being moved from the non-drive axle should be moved to the drive axle and crossed. The tires from the drive axle should be moved straight back to the non-drive axle, not crossed. In the RL's case, the drive axle would be the front as it is the primary one.

[mugen1]

It also depends on the tread pattern. Some tires are directional, in which case, they cannot be crossed. I believe the stock tires are non-directional, so it is perfectly fine to cross them. I love the fact they can be crossed. Much better for even tire wear. I do a lot of freeway driving and where I live, the off/on ramps are all of the right variety. No lefties. And the way I whip around the curves at full speed............

[Humble Pie]

Update......I don't know if it is connected, but the last tank of gas with the new tires, I got 19.4MPG.....previously, I was in the 17 MPG range consistently......I'll monitor the next couple of tanks to look for a trend....I hope so.....

[MikeT]

Originally Posted by Humble Pie

...I still can't understand how they lasted 20,000 miles with "improper mounting" and the tear I saw in the inside of the left front tire....amazing I didn't have a blow out.....

I bet it was the Nitrogen stuff