I have an 88GT , from what I saw in the owners manual side to side changes , I plan on buying the same size tires all the way around so I am going to ditch that and go with rearward cross , x pattern , frontward cross... and I may or may not cycle my spare into the mix.

So Just wondering what you guys do , and why you choose to.

I am tempted to go without a spare however doing so my tire plans are blend of the lightest quality tire I can find on tire rack , with the lightest wheel possible. Going with run flats would be the only way for me to not eventually have a major headache in the case of something happening , but also goes against what I've been trying to plan.

I follow the manual 205's on the front, 215's on the back and don't rotate them.

The stock spare on a Fiero is a mini-tire, and can't be included in rotation. What kind of spare do you have?

Contrary to popular belief, a steel belted readial tire doesn't "take a set" after it's been rolling in one direction for a while. It mattered to keep them turning in the same direction with bias ply tires of old, but not anymore. That means that if you're planning on buying non-unidirectional steel belted radials all the same width, then it doesn't matter which way you rotate the tires.

There's a second school of thought on this though... many people would rather have to replace two tires at a time than four, simply to ease the expense. If that's the case, then don't bother rotating the tires (or rotate them left rear to right rear, and left front to right front) and you'll typically end up replacing the rears a year or two before the fronts. Personally, I don't rotate my tires since I keep the car aligned and they wear out evenly, just faster in the back.

Mine rotate when I give it gas while in gear. They are different sizes front to back and they are directional. I'm running 20" tires so no spare.

I have directional tires on my 88 Formula in the stock sizes, so I don't rotate my tires.
I also find it best to only have to buy two tires at once because having different wheel sizes and tire sizes front to rear seems to be too difficult for most tire shops to grasp unless you're driving an expensive exotic. Only buying 2 at a time reduces the confusion substantially.

When I first bought my Fiero, it had the front tire sizes on the rear wheels and the rear tire sizes on the front wheels because someone rotated tires at some point, and then later bought new ones without noticing the different size wheels.

[This message has been edited by Formula88 (edited 06-05-2011).]

Depends what type of tires your currentley have (directional tires or Standard Tires).You can use the X swap patern for standard tires,but if you have directional tires,then you would want to swap them streight back (front to back and back to front).Driveing habits and tire wear will indicate if your tires need to be rotated or not.Wearing on the front outer edge, is an indication that they need to be rotated.If the is wearing on the front inside edge,or cupping then you would probubley need an alignment.If you think you need an alignment,then you might consider rotating the tires,because your going to need an alignment for the new tires anyway.

I rotate my tires front to back, because they have a directional tread pattern.

Edit to add: Rotating tires should only be done to balance the tire wear. For example, the Fiero is tail heavy. So the rear tires will wear out faster.

If your tires are wearing unevenly, that does not mean they need to be rotated. It actually means you have a wheel alignment issue, or the air pressure is wrong. For example, if the tire wear is mainly in the center of the tread, it means the tires are over-inflated. If the tread is wearing mainly on the outside edges, they are under-inflated. And if the tire is wearing mainly on one side, you have an alignment issue. Rotating the tires will not solve or mask these issues. It will only cause the other tires to get chewed up, as well.

[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 06-05-2011).]

If you are using stock wheels on an 88, You should not rotate front to back! Wheels are different!

Right now, I'm running a set of Formula (88) crosslace wheels on my 85... staggered widths + directional tires = no rotating. Before that, I ran a set of 17" Scion TC wheels with directional tires as well. 215/45s up front, 225/45s in back. With the Formula wheels, it's 205s up front, 215s in the rear - higher profile, obviously.

The guys at the shop who put them on couldn't seem to grasp that they had to go on a certain way - they had the front left about to go on the back right and the others were nearly mounted backwards. Once I told them how they need to be put on, there wasn't an issue.

[This message has been edited by skuzzbomer (edited 06-05-2011).]

At the Dells Run this weekend, I saw a Formula with the front wheels on one side of the car, and the rears on the other... Fail.

Follow the factory spec.

I don't rotate & they wear fairly evenly. I don't drive the fiero a whole lot &
have replaced the last two sets of tires because of sidewall cracking, not
tread wear. They were Yokohama from Discount Tire and they replaced
them without charge due to the cracking.

quote Originally posted by Chris-Winfield: ... and I may or may not cycle my spare into the mix.

Hehe... the choice is yours. Have you popped the hood (the huge squarish object towards the frontal area of the vehicle) and actually seen the spare tire? It may or may not (don't want to give away too many clues) in anyway resemble the rest of the wheels on the vehicle.

I would hope for 'may not'...

quote Originally posted by carbon: At the Dells Run this weekend, I saw a Formula with the front wheels on one side of the car, and the rears on the other... Fail. Follow the factory spec.

Circle track racer?

I never rotate tires. It usually turns out when I have worn ones, I only need to buy a pair. If you rotate, all your tires need replaced at same time. I know theoretically that they should last twice as long by rotating them, but Ive never seen that happen. Sometimes fronts wear out first, sometimes rears depending on car and driving habit. Usually either front or rear ones wear out 2-1 over the other pair. Your actual results may be different, but this is my experience.

Diagonal if they aren't directional, front to back if they are..

[This message has been edited by Steel (edited 06-06-2011).]

You shouldn't have to rotate your tires. If your car is set up correctly, the tires should ware down evenly. Rotation sounds like fixing the symptom and not the problem to me.

quote Originally posted by Brastic: You shouldn't have to rotate your tires. If your car is set up correctly, the tires should ware down evenly. Rotation sounds like fixing the symptom and not the problem to me.

When you make a turn the front tires have a load on them that wears down the edges. You could always drive in a straight line and not have to worry about rotating your tires.

My 87 GT has 205's on the front and 215's on the rear. Someone says there is a difference
in the wheels, front to rear. I have never checked the rims. How do you tell the difference?
Are the rims wider?
Harry

The 88 Fiero owners manual recommends rotating tires side to side on the GT and Formula. This is due to the different width wheels, 6 in front and 7 in rear, plus the 205/215 staggered tires sizes. I do this on my car since I do not run directional tires.

The 86 and 87 Fieros with the 15" wheels just have staggered size tires... the rims are identical on all for corners and essentially the same as the 88 rear. The narrower tire in the front is for ease of steering on the earlier cars. The 88 uses the same 205 tire on a one inch narrower rim in the front... makes the profile slightly taller, not exactly desirable due to the 88s riding nose high to begin with...

I've got Potenza 215's all around. It's easier to rotate than with the stock 205 front 215 back.

I have stock wheels and tires ATM but I have yet to drive the car , Im still working on it , I am trying to figure out what size wheels and tires I want.

Im trying to plan it out to keep them lighter , and as narrow as possible while getting a good rated tire. But I do not know the down sides to each of the sizes.