Tire Rotation — the details

Tire rotation can be beneficial in several ways. When done at the recommended times, it can preserve balanced handling and traction and even out tire wear. Tire rotation can even provide performance advantages.

Many tire mileage warranties require tire rotation to keep the warranty valid. When should tires be rotated? We recommend that tires be rotated every 5,000 to 8,000 miles even if they don't show signs of wear. Tire rotation can often be done with an oil change while the vehicle is off the ground. This is also a good time to have your tires rebalanced if you've been having any vibration issues than you suspect may relate to the tire balance. It's also a good time to inspect the tires for any damage, remove stones or debris from the tire treads, check for uneven wear by checking the tire tread depth and of course, checking your tire pressure.

Tire rotation helps even out tire wear by allowing each tire to serve in as many of the vehicle's wheel positions as possible, hopefully promoting even wear across the tire tread pattern. Remember, tire rotation can't correct wear problems due to worn mechanical parts or incorrect inflation pressures.

While every vehicle is equipped with four tires, usually the tires on the front axle need to accomplish very different tasks than the tires on the rear axle. The tasks encountered on a front-wheel drive vehicle are considerably different than those of a rear-wheel drive vehicle. Tire wear experienced on a performance vehicle will usually be more severe than that of a family sedan. Each wheel position can cause different wear rates and different types of tire wear.

It is an advantage when all four tires wear together because as wear reduces a tire’s tread depth, it allows all four tires to respond to the driver’s input more quickly, maintains the handling and helps increase the tire’s cornering traction.

When your tires wear out together, you can get a new set of tires without being forced to buy pairs. If you replace tires in sets of four, you will maintain the original handling balance. In addition, our suppliers constantly introduce new tires, each of which improves upon their past product’s performance. If you replace your tires in sets of four, it allows you to experience today’s technology, instead of being forced to match yesterday’s. 

Four (4) Tire Rotation

What tire rotation pattern should be followed? The Tire & Rim Association has identified three traditional rotation patterns covering most vehicles (equipped with non-directional tires and wheels which are the same size and offset).

• On front-wheel drive cars, rotate the tires in a forward cross pattern (Figure A) or the alternative X pattern (Figure B)

• On rear-wheel or four-wheel drive vehicles, rotate the tires in a rearward cross pattern (Figure C) or the alternative X pattern (Figure B)

Today’s performance tire and wheel trends have provided the need for two additional tire rotation patterns.

• The "Front-to-Rear" (Figure D) pattern may be used for vehicles equipped with the same size directional wheels and/or directional tires.

• A "Side-to-Side" (Figure E) pattern may be used for vehicles equipped with different sized non-directional tires and wheels on the front axle compared to the rear axle.

If the last two rotation patterns do not provide even wear, dismounting, mounting and rebalancing will be necessary to rotate the tires.

Vehicles that use different sized directional wheels and tires, and/or wheels with different front and rear offsets with directional tires will require dismounting, mounting, and rebalancing to rotate tires.

Five (5) Tire Rotation

While many vehicles are equipped with temporary spares that cannot be included in a tire rotation program, if the vehicle’s four wheels and tires on the ground match the spare wheel and tire (if non-directional and not branded "for temporary use"), they should be included in the tire rotation pattern. Follow the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended tire rotation procedures, or if not available, insert the spare in the right rear position at every rotation. Place the tire that would have gone to the right rear in the trunk as the spare until the next tire rotation.

• On front-wheel drive cars with full-size matching spare, rotate the tires in a forward cross pattern (Figure F)

• On rear-wheel or four-wheel drive cars with full-size matching spare, rotate the tires in a rearward cross pattern (Figure G)

Five tire rotation results in equally distributed use that will help maintain equivalent tread depths on all five tires throughout their life. When applied to many four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive vehicles, this is required to prevent driveline damage if a flat tire forces a new spare to be put into service with partially worn tires on the other three wheel positions.

We make no guarantees or warranties, either expressed or implied, with respect to the data on this site. All dollar amounts, rates, specifications, equipment and other data are subject to change without notice.