http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=43

I recently read this article on tire rotation on tire rack...my question is, is there any difference between the A rotation pattern and C pattern pictured in the article? It says A is primarily used for FWD and C is for RWD/AWD cars

It looks to me they are the same thing? Or am I missing something? My tires are NOT directional btw

 

hmm the pattern is just reveresed. interesting. my consensus goes as is: fwd cars mainly use the front tires to drive the car so that is why it is moved to the rear and crossed after every rotation where as the RWD/AWD drive tires are moved to the front then crossed each rotation. the only difference is the drive tires are moved to the non drive side. with AWD, with the amount of squat from acceleration, the rears take most of the traction and would mimic the RWD rotation pattern? i dunno. thats my take.

 

it also depends on if your tires are directional - if they are, then you can't rotate side-to-side or "X" pattern - only front and back.

 

understood...do you know the difference between the A & C patterns though?

 

its a reversal of pattern due to the fact that its FWD compared with RWD. just think about the drive tires and where those go. essentially they are the same, just reversed.

front drive tires shift to the back.
rear drive tires shift to the front.
easy as that.