You may have heard a tire technician tell you never to change the direction of your radial tires. While that was an applied science in the '70s, today's radial tires are much different. Often, both tire and automotive manufacturers integrate a crisscross rotational pattern that affects the rotational direction of the radial tires (for at least two of the tires, and sometimes all four). The only tires that you cannot change the rotational direction of are unidirectional tires, which have a designated tread pattern to rotate in one direction only.
Read the owner's manual for the vehicle and learn what tire rotation pattern(s) is recommended. You may learn that they will give you a couple of options. If you can, compare their recommendations to the tire manufacturer's rotation pattern recommendation. Figure what brand and model tires you have and contact the tire company's customer service number. This will show you whether or not the auto maker and tire maker are in agreement.
Lift the vehicle up on a car lift or use a floor jack and four jack stands.
Check and adjust the air pressure on all four tires before rotating them. Use a tire gauge to read the current air pressure. Use the air chuck and air compressor to increase (or decrease) the amount of air in the tires according to the manufacturer's tire label on the vehicle (most often located in the driver's side door jamb). The only time the tire pressure should be manipulated is if a different load- or speed-rated tire has been selected for the vehicle for certain performance changes.
Inspect the sidewalls of all four tires. Make sure they are not a unidirectional tire before rotating them. If they are unidirectional, they cannot have the rotational direction of the tire changed. You can opt to swap the tires on different sides of the car. This will require breaking the tires down off the rims and repositioning them before replacing them on the vehicle. Even then you're not changing the rotational direction, but you'll change the outside and inside tread edge. This is not necessary, however, and a front-to-rear tire rotation will suffice. Unidirectional tires are indicated by a directional arrow stamped on the sidewall of the tire, or the word(s) "inside" and "outside" to indicate the position of the tire on the rim. A great deal of concentration is required when mounting or remounting unidirectional tires in order to have the right and left side tires mounted properly.
Remove the hubcaps (if applicable) and then remove the lug nuts or studs on the wheels using the impact gun and appropriate size socket.
Choose one of the tire rotation procedures in steps 7 to 9, per the tire or car manufacturers' recommendations, or your personal preference, and maintain that rotation pattern throughout the life of the tires for that vehicle.
Rotate the drive axle tires straight to the opposite axle (front-wheel drive tires will move straight back; rear-wheel, four-wheel, and all-wheel drive tires will move straight forward) and the non-drive axle tires will crisscross to the opposite axle. This will change the rotational direction of the two non-drive axle tires at a time. During the next rotation, the two drive axle tires that were moved straight to the other axle will then be crisscrossed to change their rotational direction.
Crisscross all four tires. This will change the rotational direction of all four tires no matter what type of vehicle you have.
Rotate the tires front to back only. This option will not change the rotational direction of the radial tire, but may be recommended by both the tire and automotive manufacturer, even if it is not a unidirectional tire.
Replace the tires and lug nuts or studs. Tighten the lug nuts or studs with a torque wrench to the correct torque specifications for the vehicle. Replace the hubcaps (if applicable) and then lower the vehicle.
