I just rotated my tires on my 06 XC-90 2.5L. Front to back and criss-crossed the back to the front. I'm now hearing a noticable whomp-whomp between 20-40mph. Can anyone shed some light on what I did wrong? Do I need to flip flop the front tires? Thanks,

Jimmy V

 

Sounds like your tires are unidirectional, which means that they should only be rotated front to back and back to front, keeping them on the same sides. Which make and size are they?

Niel

 

I mean't to say directional. Also - I did the same thing with my Pirelli Scorpion Zeros, and their performance went downhill from there. I was told by a tire guy that Pirelli Scorpions should never be cross rotated and that once you start, the wear and noise characteristics change. Don't know if that is true, but after I started rotating, mine became noisy, wore unevenly, and rode harder than before. I just replaced them with Yokohama Geolanders which are directional and should never be cross rotated. They are quiet, smooth, and so far, are wearing evenly.

 

Yes, the are the Pirelli Scorpion Zeros...I'll swap the two front tires and see if that helps.

 

Well I swapped the 2 front tires after my wife put 250miles on them. They're still hum'n away. I'm not sure if the 250 mile contributed to my problem or not. I was also told they might need an alignment but I'm not sure if that is normal for a 16K car and don't want to spend alot of extra money. After all, that's why I rotated them myself vs taking the car into the dealer for the 15K, $200+ kick in the pants.

JimmyV

 

If you check the front tires now, you will probably notice some uneven wear and cupping on the outer edges of one or both of the front tires. Or on the inner edges. If so, the damage is done and the noise will not go away no matter how you rotate them. I seriously doubt that you need an alignment, unless you have had a close relationship with potholes or curbings. Or have run the tires out of balance at high speeds.

I speak from experience.

Niel