Should I get my tires rotated?

[Gary Fowler]

I never rotate my tires unless I get wear on the front from front end alignment problems. I just check for this occasionally and if no wear problems (tire is wearing evenly) then I don't really see any need to waste my time at a tire shop even if the service is free. Claims of better mileage etc from rotation ever 5000 miles is really bunk. All 4 tires will wear out at the same time if you rotate at 5000 mile intervals. Whereas without rotation and keeping the tires properly inflated, the fronts will wear a bit faster due to steering and heavier loading so they will have to be replaces at usually twice the rate of the rear, so I only have to fork out the dollars for 2 tires rather than 4 at the same time.

I also keep my tires fully inflated to the maximum recommended. It may ride a bit rougher, but tires last much longer and wear flat rather than on the outside edges when under inflated. This is really more important that tire rotation when it comes to tire wear.

 

[cmore]

I rotate mine every time I drive

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I rotate mine every time I drive

How true! In the words of Brother Dave Gardner (The Voice of the South), "It's all in the way you look at and in the way you study it".

 

[Bird]

Old school information. Fleet managers were taught that rotating the tires would result in longer life or more miles. BUT if you were paying to have them rotated, instead of doing it yourself, you'd be losing money. The extra miles would not be enough to pay for the rotating.

Now of course that might not apply to some of these modern tires.:laughing:

 

[2LaneCruzer]

My F-150 is a 4WD vehicle, and the front tires eventually will show some slight uneven wear and exhibit some road noise. Rotation and balancing are "free", so when it gets noticeable, it pays to have mine rotated.

 

[s219]

My last three sports cars have had directional and asymmetrical tires, and wider ones on the rears. So rotating wasn't possible in any way, not even by dismounting tires from rims. It is what it is. I think the longest I got out of a set of tires was 32,000 miles, which isn't bad for these types of softer tires. They have always worn evenly without issues. Come to think of it, none of those three cars ever had an alignment either.

 

[Handloader109]

I've never rotated on a regular basis. The cars that are set correctly don't have a problem, f series ford's trucks historical have front end issues and wear tires unevenly even with rotation.... I'd just watch with your situation

 

[murphy1244]

My last three sports cars have had directional and asymmetrical tires, and wider ones on the rears. So rotating wasn't possible in any way, not even by dismounting tires from rims. It is what it is. I think the longest I got out of a set of tires was 32,000 miles, which isn't bad for these types of softer tires. They have always worn evenly without issues. Come to think of it, none of those three cars ever had an alignment either.

I would be very lucky to get 20k out of my Vette. Soft tires are great road huggers but wear very fast.

 

[Bird]

My F-150 is a 4WD vehicle, and the front tires eventually will show some slight uneven wear and exhibit some road noise. Rotation and balancing are "free", so when it gets noticeable, it pays to have mine rotated.

Yep, I buy my tires from Discount Tire Co., tire rotation every 6 or 7 thousand miles is "free" and they recheck the balance every other rotation. And in fact, they did the rotation free on our last car, even though we didn't buy the tires there (original equipment tires).

 

[murphy1244]

I rotate every 5k on my Merc when I do oil filter or and oil change. I just got my third set of tires at 170k. Not bad. My Ford truck was a tire burner.