Q fünf

I'll state up front: I'm inclined to continue the practice of rotating my vehicles' (all three are AWD) tires every 3-5K mi. It can't hurt, unless I injure myself in the process. 😨 I invite those with expert knowledge and strong feelings either way [img]data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7[/img] to chime in.

In addition to my Q5 , I also own and maintain two other AWD vehicles, a BWM and a Subaru. The owner's manual for the BMW states:

Rotating wheels between axles

The manufacturer of your vehicle advises against swapping wheels between the front and rear axles.

This can impair the handling characteristics.

Rotating the tires is not permissible when using different types of tires.

Today, while I was visiting a tire shop, I asked the manager for his philosophy on the subject. He said he advises his clients that it's unnecessary to rotate tires on an AWD vehicle, unless to address uneven wear.

I see Car and Driver says AWD vehicles' tires should be rotated, and endorses the x-pattern/crisscross pattern ("move the right front to the left rear, the left front to the right rear, the left rear to the right front, and the right rear to the left front"). It also seems to go along with Tire Rack's recommended rotation interval of 3-5K miles.

The tire shop I visited today balanced tires they had installed new on my AWD BMW less than 6K mi ago, after a wheel threw a weight. The tech located the two least round wheels to the rear axel, which involved crossing one front and one rear wheel. When the vehicle reaches 6K mi next week, I plan to rotate the other two wheels similarly. That will result in all four tires having been rotated using the x-pattern.

Ballzo

I rotate.

STSinNYC

I rotate the tires on my A4 allroad every 6k miles +/-.

Mythdoc

I also rotated tires on my Q5 and plan to do so on my allroad.