To Rotate or Not Rotate, that is the question (tires)- Bentley says 'no'
 

So what's the deal? I have always gone by the book and not rotated my tires, at any interval, and have had no problems. That is what the Bentley manual states in the beginning maintenance section.

What say you?

Also, anyone out there no if the same recommendation would be for an '09 335i as well? Have to make a call on that soon.

Thanks:dunno:

All rotating your tires does it help them wear evenly in relation to each other. You certainly don't need to but your tires may or may not wear unevenly thus requiring a new set earlier than later. Rotating isn't always an (or at least isnt an easy) option depending on your setup.

I run square setups with directional tires. I just rotate front and rear occasionally. I don't bother with side to side.

I rotate the tyres on our X every 5000km. Left to Right {stagered fitment} and If the tyres are starting to wear the edges i will also get a 4x wheel alignment.
Very fussy yes, but tyre life on these sav's need to be monitered especially the rears.

You should always rotate if possible.

I do on my X, but can't on my Z.

Staggered setups will sometimes cut the mileage warranty by 1/2. That being said, you should always rotate if you can.

Hopefully you don't have directional tires, because you can't rotate tires left to right if they are directional.

That is correct if you have directional tyres but i am running on Falken FK453
assymetrical tyres.

Actually you can rotate staggered, directional tires as long as there is no "outside."

The result of rotating left to right is that the inside of the tire is still inside on the other side---serves no purpose and can't be done with directional tires. If the front and rear tires are the same size, since the rear usually wear faster, front to back will even out the wear. If your remove the tires from the rims and install them with the opposite side to the outside, tires cannot be directional, you can balance out inside and outside wear, often uneven with BMWs. If the rims are staggered, front to back is out. With non directional tires on same size rims you can do both resulting in the longest tread life.

You can swap directional tires left to right as long as there is no "outside."

Example 1: hankook V4's are directional with no outside. You can dismount them and rotate.

Example 2: dWS directional tires with an outside. You can not rotate these if you have a staggered set up. You can if they are square.

If you have the owners manual...it should be in there as to what BMW recommends...look in the rear index under TIRE...and it should give you a hint as to where to find it. If you've downloaded a PDF version of your 3 series owners manual...then a simple word search should turn it up.

Example of tire rotation recommendation in a BMW owners manual...also note that "not recommended" does not mean DO NOT DO IT (as some may interpret it to say)...it's just a suggestion not an edict: