Can you believe how fast the fall season is coming on?! Cooler temperatures, and more windy and rainy days. In my last blog post, I talked about Tire Maintenance Tips and the importance of keeping an eye on the depth of tread on your tires. Now I'm going to go the next step and talk about the importance of rotating your tires.
With fall and winter weather approaching, we're going to get more rainy days, possibly some snow and ice. Driving conditions with rain, snow and ice all present different challenges. Precipitation of any kind makes roads more slippery and that, in turn, makes it important to have good traction. Traction happens when you have good tires on your car with strong tread depth.
So, what we want to talk about is this: is it necessary to rotate tires regularly? There are two schools of thought on this subject. Rotating the tires, which is recommended by all tire manufacturers, involves changing their position on the vehicle from one wheel location to another. This helps to even out tire wear between all the tires so the tires last longer and do not develop abnormal wear patterns. Here at Chuck's Car Care Center, we recommend rotating your tires with every other oil change or every 6000 - 8000 miles.
On front-wheel drive cars and minivans, the front wheels tend to wear at a much faster rate than those on the rear. After 50,000 or 60,000 miles of driving, the front tires may be worn out while the ones on the back may still have half or more of their tread life remaining. By rotating the tires front to rear and side to side, differences in wear patterns between the wheel locations spreads the wear out and more or less wears the tires evenly -- or so the theory goes. Consequently, tires that would have lasted only 50,000 or 60,000 miles on the front of a front-wheel drive car may last 70,000 or 80,000 miles. But on the other hand, the tires on the rear that may well have gone 100,000 miles only last 70,000 or 80,000 miles.
Whew, that's a lot to read and absorb, right?! Well, stick with me, because there's more and it's all important information. Those who say rotating tires is a waste of time argue that it makes more sense to replace the front tires on a front-wheel drive car or minivan when they wear out, but to leave the back tires alone - especially if you're putting a lot of miles on the vehicle or plan to keep it a long time. The back tires will probably last as long as two sets of front tires, so in the long run you end up buying the same number or possibly even fewer tires by not rotating. Plus, you've saved the time and money that would have been spent on rotating the tires. This argument doesn't fly in the case of certain low profile performance tires that have a tendency to develop a heel-and-toe wear pattern if left in the same wheel position too long.
For rear-wheel drive cars and trucks, the recommended tire rotation pattern is to rotate the front wheels to the opposite side on the rear, and move the rear wheels to the same side on the front. As you can see, I included a handy tire rotation chart photo image above - it addresses front- and rear-wheel, as well as directional tire drive.
For front-wheel drive cars and minivans, the recommended tire rotation pattern is to rotate the rear wheels to the front on the opposite side, and move the front wheels to the rear on the same side.
If your vehicle has "directional" tires (small arrows or triangles indicating the direction of travel), the wheels must not be switched side to side. They can, however, be rotated front to rear on the same side.
If all of this is still confusing to you, and you're unsure what type of rotation is appropriate for your vehicle, give us a call at 865-483-0979 and we'll be happy to help you figure it out! It's a simple, efficient service that will give you the best value and use of your tires. And let's face it, new tires are an investment - you want to get your money's worth, and you want to make sure that your car drives and reacts safely in all weather conditions. Chuck and I say this a lot - you're hauling precious cargo in your car, whether it's just you alone, or you have family and/or friends with you. Safety is the Number One Priority and keeping your tires in good shape falls in that category.
Chuck’s Car Care Center – Family Owned – Dedicated – Trustworthy
