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Hello, I just had the 1st service done on my 25 f450 platinum plus, the dealer rotated the tires , turning the wheels around, is the old inside of the wheels uncoated- they almost look like they were acid washed . I thought the wheels were clearcoated. I dont mind polishing if that's what's need, I just dont want to mess up.the clearcoat if it has it. Wheels now
Hello, I just had the 1st service done on my 25 f450 platinum plus, the dealer rotated the tires , turning the wheels around, is the old inside of the wheels uncoated- they almost look like they were acid washed . I thought the wheels were clearcoated. I dont mind polishing if that's what's need, I just dont want to mess up.the clearcoat if it has it. Wheels now
stock tires are not polished on both sides
the reason why your rims look acid washed is becuase the stealership was lazy and they think you are stupid…what they did was rotate wheels as a unit front to back and maybe cross crossed…what they were supposed to do was move the rubber tires to the existing position rims that way you would have polish side out .
go back and have them move the rubber and put the rims back where they belong.
it would take a lot of work to polish the full side to match the finish of the polish side if you want to go that route. Most tin polisihing out fits will not do 19.5 inch rims as they specialize in 22.5 or higher rims.
Thank you for the response, I thought that was the case, I was hoping initially it was just brake dust but after washing it i realized not so much. Ill polish them myself, unbelievable, no pride in work anymore
Thank you for the response, I thought that was the case, I was hoping initially it was just brake dust but after washing it i realized not so much. Ill polish them myself, unbelievable, no pride in work anymore
No, don’t do that! If you leave them the way they are now you will ruin the nice factory finished polished and coated side with brake dust and road grime. If the dealer service apes are that incompetent to do what they did already there is no way I would have them dismounting and remounting tires on those rims, I can only imagine the damage that would result! Get those rims turned back around to the correct side facing out and don’t worry about 4 or 6 tire rotations on your dually, just swap the fronts side to side when you do your oil changes and leave the rears alone and everything will be fine. If that truck were mine it would not have left the dealership looking like that.
WE3ZS is exactly right. I put 110k on my 2018 F450 HSR duallys without a single rotation. They all wore evenly and were still in great shape when I replaced them last December. Probably shouldn’t have gone that long both in miles and time, but oh well.
Oh I washed the truck today, the wheels were black with brake dust & road grime from being inside facing. I knew better, I hesitated about have the tires rotated but like a dumba.. I let them . Thank you, I'll do it myself this week, so disappointed in the quality of service, have other issues too & now I'm doubting that dealerships competence in repairs as it's been in 3x so far for the other issue, 2020 250=0 issues, awesome truck
They rotated them the way they were supposed to. RF to the LR. LF to RR.
Ford is the one in the wrong, by polishing one side of the wheel. Natural AL finish is fine. Removing the tires from the wheels, and remounting them is no good. Who actually does that? If youre that OCD (and you should never re-balence a used wheel tire if you dont have to), skip rotating the tires completely. Just replace the fronts early, and used closed shoulder steer tires.
Go ahead and polish them up more if you want. Id rather ignore them. Truck looks awesome as is. Just remove the lame plastic hub cap things.
Last edited by Midwest87; Mar 15, 2026 at 08:48 PM.
They rotated them the way they were supposed to. RF to the LR. LF to RR.
Ford is the one in the wrong, by polishing one side of the wheel. Natural AL finish is fine. Removing the tires from the wheels, and remounting them is no good. Who actually does that? If youre that OCD (and you should never re-balence a used wheel tire if you dont have to), skip rotating the tires completely. Just replace the fronts early, and used closed shoulder steer tires.
Go ahead and polish them up more if you want. Id rather ignore them. Truck looks awesome as is. Just remove the lame plastic hub cap things.
Having had several F450s in my family, this is TERRIBLE advice.
The only time you can cross-rotate, or even do the old 'front to inside, inside to outside, outside to front) is if you're running steel painted wheels, because they're all 100% the same.
I don't know if they've changed it in recent years or not, but my Dad on his '08 and my FIL on his '08 and his '17 was told NOT to rotate the front rims to the rear or the rears to the front - they have slightly different offsets (not to mention aren't polished on the inside). They obviously don't rub but they're not spaced properly.
On an F450, the only proper tire rotations are side-to-side, or to break down EVERY tire and move the rubber, not the wheels. No one wants to do the latter, and most don't follow the former.
EDIT: I want to clarify, even doing the 'front to inside, inside to outside, outside to front' rotation on steel wheels can, as is pointed out further down, make the truck feel a tad weird until everything wears back down, especially on an F450. The last time I did this kind of rotation on a dually was my dad's '94 GMC, that had all painted steel 16" wheels. The diameter to width ratio wasn't that bad, so the fronts didn't wear down as much on the outsides as an F450 does, and so putting the fronts on the back didn't cause as big of an issue.
Last edited by 99powerstrokedF250; Mar 16, 2026 at 11:17 AM.
Never front to back on a dually, only side to side. And the rears stay as the same pair for their entire life.
Front tires wear differently than the rear pairs do. On a 450 in particular, because of the large steering angles, the outside edges of the fronts wear much faster than the center tread. On the rear, the center of the tread wears faster because of the high pressure and low relative load. If you rotate a front tire onto a back outer, the diameter of the pair is ever so slightly different. This causes the taller of the two to carry more load, more heat, faster wear, etc. This is the same reason you keep the rear pairs together. They wear as a pair, and left to right can have ever so slightly different diameters due to road crown and driving habits. If you split up the rear pairs, it actually causes overall faster wear as the load is carried by the taller tire every time until it wears down to equal the other.
Never front to back on a dually, only side to side. And the rears stay as the same pair for their entire life.
Front tires wear differently than the rear pairs do. On a 450 in particular, because of the large steering angles, the outside edges of the fronts wear much faster than the center tread. On the rear, the center of the tread wears faster because of the high pressure and low relative load. If you rotate a front tire onto a back outer, the diameter of the pair is ever so slightly different. This causes the taller of the two to carry more load, more heat, faster wear, etc. This is the same reason you keep the rear pairs together. They wear as a pair, and left to right can have ever so slightly different diameters due to road crown and driving habits. If you split up the rear pairs, it actually causes overall faster wear as the load is carried by the taller tire every time until it wears down to equal the other.
This is extremely valuable information, especially to me, since this will be my first 350 DRW and it will have the aluminum outers and fronts. You've saved me some potential headaches down the line. Thank you for providing it.
Having had several F450s in my family, this is TERRIBLE advice.
The only time you can cross-rotate, or even do the old 'front to inside, inside to outside, outside to front) is if you're running steel painted wheels, because they're all 100% the same.
I don't know if they've changed it in recent years or not, but my Dad on his '08 and my FIL on his '08 and his '17 was told NOT to rotate the front rims to the rear or the rears to the front - they have slightly different offsets (not to mention aren't polished on the inside). They obviously don't rub but they're not spaced properly.
On an F450, the only proper tire rotations are side-to-side, or to break down EVERY tire and move the rubber, not the wheels. No one wants to do the latter, and most don't follow the former.
EDIT: I want to clarify, even doing the 'front to inside, inside to outside, outside to front' rotation on steel wheels can, as is pointed out further down, make the truck feel a tad weird until everything wears back down, especially on an F450. The last time I did this kind of rotation on a dually was my dad's '94 GMC, that had all painted steel 16" wheels. The diameter to width ratio wasn't that bad, so the fronts didn't wear down as much on the outsides as an F450 does, and so putting the fronts on the back didn't cause as big of an issue.
If it drives weird, then you waited too long.
Our DRW's have the same offset wheels. Inside rears are steel. Inside rears never get rotated.
Are your odd offset wheels marked? How could a tire guy know if you gave him 6 stripped wheels?
Never front to back on a dually, only side to side. And the rears stay as the same pair for their entire life.
Front tires wear differently than the rear pairs do. On a 450 in particular, because of the large steering angles, the outside edges of the fronts wear much faster than the center tread. On the rear, the center of the tread wears faster because of the high pressure and low relative load. If you rotate a front tire onto a back outer, the diameter of the pair is ever so slightly different. This causes the taller of the two to carry more load, more heat, faster wear, etc. This is the same reason you keep the rear pairs together. They wear as a pair, and left to right can have ever so slightly different diameters due to road crown and driving habits. If you split up the rear pairs, it actually causes overall faster wear as the load is carried by the taller tire every time until it wears down to equal the other.
Our inside rear tires are the longest lasting. The outside wears quicker. The fronts the quickest.
The front gets rotated to the rear, so it can wear flat again, hopefully save the tire. Not rotating the fronts will cause them to wear out the edge quickly. And feather the tread.
We do that with some trucks. No rotations at all. Use a square shouldered steer tire. Those of us with 4wd and open shouldered tires, rotate the fronts and outside rears.
For the OP - if they did that at the Ford dealer, I'd take it back and make them do it. Direct from the Owner's manual:"If your vehicle is equipped with dual rear wheels it is recommended that the front and rear tires (in pairs) be rotated only side to side. We do not recommend splitting up the dual rear wheels. Rotate them side to side as a set."
It's Ford's own instructions that they clearly didn't follow.
In the end, whatever schema a person uses still results in 90k+ mileage from a set of commercial tires. We're bench racing techniques that are hard to prove as every truck is used differently, and collecting data for years to get another 3k miles out of tires that are likely aging out and weather cracking at the same time their tread life is diminished is more costly than just replacing them. The tires will certainly look similar if they are rotated front to rear through their whole life. They look similar because they are forced to wear to match the profile of the other rear tire. But, they'll still get 90k miles.
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