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Change Your Oil and Rotate Your Tires

Most people do the first, but neglect the second. Most newer vehicles have 6,000 to 7,500 mile recommended oil change intervals, so tire rotation can done at the same time. However, check the owners manual for the recommended service intervals for your vehicle. Doing both at the same time can save a trip to a service facility, not to mention the time in the waiting room. If you are still changing oil at the traditional 3,000 mile interval, rotate tires every other, or every third time at the most.

On most vehicles, and especially front-wheel-drive (FWD) ones, front tires will wear out faster than rear ones. The front ones usually carry more weight, do more of the braking and in the case of FWDs, transit power to the road. There are several reasons for periodic tire rotation besides just more uniform wear of the tires meaning they have longer useable lifetimes. If tires are worn unevenly, this can result in poor handling, braking and traction especially under wet or slippery conditions.

If you don’t rotate tires, you will probably have to replace tires in pairs rather than as a complete set of four. While replacing four tires will be twice as expensive, it has several advantages. First of all, you will have tires with basically equal wear and thread depths on all four wheels, and thus retain the handling and braking quality originally designed into the vehicle. This is especially important if you have a performance-oriented vehicle with high performance tires. Today, tires are a key ingredient in overall vehicle design, thus the importance of not only having good tires, but the proper ones for a particular vehicle.

If your vehicle has a full size spare rather than a temporary, “mini” spare, this tire should be included in he rotation schedule. Do this and you should get about 20-percent longer tire life from a set of tires. However, if you only replace four tires and use the “best” one removed, for your spare, then it becomes a true spare and now should not be included in subsequent rotations.

Replacing all five also means all tires wear out before they should be replaced due to old age. Even though you don’t use the spare, this is a good time to make sure it is properly inflated and ready for an emergency.

The accompanying figure shows the recommended tire rotation patterns for front- and-rear-wheel-drive vehicles as well as type and number of tires used. Note; if you have high performance tires, they may have directional tread designs. Thus, when rotated they have to remain on the same side of the vehicle so they always rotate only in one direction.

If you have all season or snow tires mounted on only the driving axle, these tires should be switched to the opposite side of the vehicle at each rotation. When removing regular tires to mount snow tires, put them on the non-powered axle and store the removed tires. This will assure more even tire wear.

On four-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive vehicles, rotate in criss-cross fashion. Since tires in these applications tend to wear faster, the interval should be shorter, maybe even as little as every 4,000 miles and checking for uneven wear should be more frequent. This is especially important with 4WD and AWD because tires with substantially different wear, especially on the same axle, may lead to drivetrain damage.

When rotating tires, inspect for sufficient thread depth, abnormal wear patterns and damage. Tires need to have at least 1/16-in. of tread or more, the minimum amount of tread allowed by law. Use a thread depth gauge or insert a penny into the tread groove with Lincoln’s face showing, but with his head upside-down. If you are able to see all of Lincoln’s head, the tire needs to be replaced. Most of today’s tires have wear bars to show when replacement is warranted.

If your car’s tires show signs of abnormal or unequal wear, have this looked into by a tire specialist. If your car needs alignment or suspension work, do it before you rotate tires or buy new ones. When rotating tires, they should be balanced. Improper wheel balance can result in vibration and premature wear of tires, struts, shocks and other steering and suspension components. When combined with proper wheel alignment, balanced wheels ensure smooth and safe driving. Also wheel weights are often lost, or balance is altered by hitting a pothole or curb.

Finally, make sure tires are inflated to the proper pressure. Because front and rear axles carry a different percent of the total vehicle weight, manufacturers often recommend different inflation pressures for front and rear tires. In these cases, when rotating tires front-to-rear and vice-versa, make sure to use the correct pressure. When checking inflation pressure, do it on cool tires and preferably in the cool morning. If you do it on hot tires on a hot day, the tires could be seriously under-inflated when the tires tool down. Even pressures in tires in the sun versus those in the shade can be a couple of psi higher in pressure.