Recently I purchased new wheels for my 2004 Expedition and the local company that put my existing tires on the new wheels placed them on the opposite side of the vehicle than where they had been located, left side on right side and vise versa. These tires are directional Yokohama parada’s 20″ 305 50. The proper direction was maintained so when I picked up the vehicle the dirty side of the tires were now facing outward and the clean side facing inward. I have never seen it done like this before. Shortly after this work I noticed a very prominent vibration starting around 40 MPH thru 85 MPH in 5 MPH increments seemingly from one or maybe both front tires in the steering wheel movement. I had them re-balance all four tires twice over a two week period but not rotate and the vibration would seem to be lessened for a time then after a short while return. Thinking that I may have an alignment issue I took the vehicle to another shop where they performed the alignment and found only the right rear to have a slight toe in and was corrected. This had no effect on the vibration. This company then noticed that the front right tire had a slipped belt evident by a raised area on the inner tread that was approximately 3″ wide and 12″ circumferential. This tire was replaced and most of the vibration disappeared for a time then gradually it started getting worse again. I then took the vehicle back to the alignment shop and had the front wheel bearings inspected and they were just fine. The alignment shop then rebalanced both front tires, 1 old left side and 1 new right side tires. This minimized the vibration to almost being gone but it was still present. I then replaced all of the remaining old tires and the vibration disappeared but there was no visual problems with any of these three remaining tires like the first one that was replaced earlier. It’s now finally driving perfectly again. My question posed is will switching left side tires from those wheels to the right side wheels, maintaining rotational direction, and vise versa right to left side create new acute stresses on the tire belts and cause belt separation creating a vibration problem? Thank you for your help.

Most local tire dealers offer free rotation, for the life of your tires, when you buy a set from them. You can roll your car to the shop every 5K miles, get it done by a licensed technician. Easy, fast, and you get to pick up cool tips from seasoned mechanics.

Manly.

Since the wheels are already off, this is a good time to inspect other mechanical parts:
1) visually inspect the rubber covers on CV or universal joints. Broken covers let abrasive materials in which will degrade bearings.
2) Look at your shocks. Although not a normal occurrence, broken shock housings, leaking shocks, or bent shocks can cause tires to wear out quickly.
3) For more involved maintenance, buy a micrometer or calipers and measure your pads and rotors on the brakes. Measure at the thinnest section of pad or rotor.
4) Inspect wheel housings and/or mud flaps. Much easier to see when that big round thing is not in the way.

Thanks Nik! Still wondering this. I have been thinking about it quite a bit.