Rolling resistance and tire rotation

[California98Civic]

Last weekend I rotated my tires. I have directional tires. The fronts were exceedingly worn, the front right quite bald. The rear tires are quite fresh looking. When I moved them, the bulk of road sound shifted from the back to the front, reflecting the relative tread qualities I guess. I have noticed a decline in ave freeway mpg. Under conditions in which I would have gotten 50-53 before, I seem to be getting 47-50 now. Could the rolling resistance have increased simply by shuffling the thicker treads to the front wheels?

[Frank Lee]

Makes sense to me that it would. We know balder tires have lower r.r., and we know most fwd cars have 2/3 of their weight on the front; you have put the higher r.r. tires where there is more weight thus raising the rolling resistance of the vehicle.

[PaleMelanesian]

I did the same a few months ago and found the same thing - much more noise up front. That lasted a while but it's gone now. The mileage hit was very short-lived as well. I think the tread blocks just had to break in to their new duty cycle.