niray99

Recently on a dealer visit my front tires were measured at 7/32 and rear ones at 9/32.

Do I need to rotate/swap the front with the rear two so that the back and front wear uniformly?

P.S. - Other Info - One of my rear tires is only 8 months old vs @16 months of the other 3.

SDakota

Yes, you can rotate them front to back, same side. Front tires wear more quickly than rear tires. I do this with two sets of wheels & tires - summer and winter. So I'm rotating tires about every 4,000 miles which is overkill but my tire wear is very even as a result. You can buy a tread depth gauge at an autoparts store to monitor them yourself and rotate them when they are noticeably different. I would try to keep the tread depths on each axle the same so the axle is balanced side-to-side and you aren't stressing the quattro system by consistently spinning one tire faster than the other.

niray99

HyperS4

Depending on where you live, if you have a lot of on or off ramps and roundabouts(like here in NJ), your left side front will wear quicker. So in this case, its also good to switch side to side as well. However, if your tire shoulders are wearing evenly, you can just do front to rear swaps.

audi8k

Depending on the tire model, they might have a specified rotational direction (indicated with arrows on the side) that you should keep. (On a previous car I actually had tires that were both asymmetric and with specified rotation, so these were defined at purchase for left or right side.) I swap front/rear each season.

niray99

Thanks.

I have the pirelli cinturato p7 all season plus 245/40R18. Not sure if it has a specified rotation.

Timfoilhat

I'd check that the dealer measured all four tires. The fact that you have one new tire could explain the 2/32 difference between them.

munsabin

SDakota's post actually got me to buy a tread depth gauge. I've on my 3rd seasons (I think) of using the winter tyres now and honestly, i could not tell a difference between the tread depth between the 4 winter tyres I have on now beyond probably like a max of 0.2 to 0.3mm - which is not something I'm going to bother with. This is keeping in mind I've never kept track of which tyre went on which axle/side.

This kept in mind, I read somewhere that the 2 tyres which have better / higher tread should (against what I'd assume to be normal based on no knowledge at all =) ) be put on the BACK axle. Why is this?

nikclev

Most places will recommmend against replacing only two tires, regardless of axle placement. But if you do replace two, it's better to replace the rears. This is because of what could happen if you lose traction (skid due to hydroplaning, snow, etc...) if you have better tires up front, your car has more tendency to oversteer (turn more than you intend) when things go wrong, as they have in theory better traction. This can, if not handled properly, lead to a spin. If the better tires are in the rear, your car has more tendency to understeer (go straighter than you intend) and this leads to a straighter skid. Both are bad, but an untrained driver (IE, not a professional stunt driver or race car driver) has an easier time handling understeer as it's more "intuitive" and a spin typically leads to worse outcomes. Tirerack has a pretty good blurb about this: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret....jsp?techid=52

This is controversial, and some experts don't agree. I think the key here is what an "untrained" driver has an easier time handling, and after some thought it makes sense to me. I think it was Tirerack, but I remember reading a different blurb about front tire vs. rear tire replacement and the "profesional drivers" had no problems, but they put their sales team in the driver's seat and the sales team had a much easier time maintaining control with new tires in the rear. I have no idea what affect modern traction control or four wheel drive systems would have on this, as I'm sure that muddies the waters even more.

niray99

Yepp I need to buy a tread measuring device to measure the tire treads myself.