Cobra Tire Problem

[Marine One]

Hey all,
Got a tire problem and some related questions.
I installed a set of 4 BFG G Force KDWS 245 45 17s on my 96 Cobra about 5,000 miles ago. They were extremely quiet until I rotated them last night, using the standard back to front same side, fronts to back cris-cross rotation. Now the tires are very loud. Alignment was done right after the tires were installed, and the wear looked fine (almost nonexistent) when I rotated them.

Questions:
1. Is the noise because the direction that the rear tires are turning is now opposite what it has been since they were originally installed on the car?

2. Will this noise likely go away once the tires have settled/"worn" into their new wear patterns where currently installed? I've driven the car less than 60 miles since rotating the tires.

3. Should I have just done a front to back same-side rotation? These are non-directional tires.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

 

[cobrahandler]

you should contact your tire dealer for specifics but i think you messed up when you made left to right switches. should be front to back only.

 

[LZR RED COBRA]

yeah, im not sure about the kdws but the old comp t/a's and every other z rated tire ive ever used is a directional tire, meaning it is meant to rotate in on direction. if you switched the direction, that is bad. most will have an arrow and say rotation or direction or something to that effect, if the arrow is pointing to the rear, you have problems switch them now before you have serious problems!

 

[Marine One]

Thanks all. These tires are acually non-directional. It was the tire dealer who recommended the cross rotation. I called him this morning and told him what was going on and asked about rotating them on the same side, but he stood by his original recommendation. I think I'll try swapping the rears and see what happens.

 

[wythors]

Radial tires should only be swapped front to back.

 

[sinisterblack98]

Radial tires should only be swapped front to back.

Uni-directional...(insert quote), regular passenger radials can be crossed or reversed.

 

[wythors]

Uni-directional...(insert quote), regular passenger radials can be crossed or reversed.

Having worked for many years in the tire business and having listened to this same complaint many times, I disagree.

 

[motorCITY]

Personally, I don't think I would have crossed them. I would have done the front to back / same-side. From what I understand, usually your Right R gets the most abuse, and the most outta whack w/balancing. Moving the RR to your LF may feel differ handling @ differ speeds.

Maybe you should get them re-balanced since their in their new spots. I know if you have a right rim that is 2.5 + oz outta balance, you may feel a differecne in your drive @ differ speeds. I know that don't explain why the sound has changed, but FWIW. . . my 2¢

(you know there are cat-backs that can eliminate that sound issue too)
Good luck.

 

[Marine One]

Thanks for all the help. Plan right now is to swap rears from side to side (I only criscrossed the rears when I rotated) so end result will be a same-side rotation. Then I'll get have all of them balanced.

 

[Hissmann]

This is why I don't rotate. When a tire is wearing bad i change it. I have 275's on all 4 corners now, but my next change will put 255's up front and 275's out back.

 

[sinisterblack98]

Having worked for many years in the tire business and having listened to this same complaint many times, I disagree.

To explain:

I was giving a "technical" argument based on experience. If a quiet ride is the most important factor then it isn't preferred. I have gotten 80-90k out of a set of 5 BFG Radial A/Ts by "crossing" though on my Jeeps. It was the only proper way to do the 5 tire rotation but I had no increase in road noise and tire life was increased, not just by the spare seeing duty. I would never recommend a 4 tire criss-cross on non-directional radials, (no point), but some stand by it (including manufacturers) as a way to increase tire life.

"Never say never or only!"