tire rotation question

[b2089]

I'm not sure if this comes under maintenance or this section, so I'll put here and hope someone smart sees it.

Okay, people buy tires, usually 4 at a time and then either spend 15 bucks every few months to have them rotated or buy a tire at a more expensive shop and have the free service. That makes all tires wear about the same so years down the road you buy tires 4 at a time again.

My question, wouldn't it be better NOT to rotate them? Instead buy two, put the newest ones on the back. Yes I know the fronts wear faster, but the best on the back insures two things 1- the oldest tires wear out rather than having good tires dry rot on the back after 10 years and 2- you won't fishtail or slide around on slick surfaces or high high speeds. Not rotating them would save you either time and money, or just time.

Any thoughts?

[bballr4567]

You should ALWAYS rotate your tires. Rotating them saves the life of the tires and your pocket book. Sure you have to pay to have them down every now and then but buying new front tires every 9 months because you didnt rotate them is plain stupid.

[Nighthawk243]

Unless they were some uni-directional tires that had to be removed from the rim, I'd just rotate it myself, save the money.


Speaking of... Its been about a year since I've gotten these tires... I just need to wait for the weather to warm up a bit more...

[bandit307]

I have directionals, Just switch front to back myself. Thats all.

[b2089]

Originally posted by bballr4567
You should ALWAYS rotate your tires. Rotating them saves the life of the tires and your pocket book. Sure you have to pay to have them down every now and then but buying new front tires every 9 months because you didnt rotate them is plain stupid.

But you get the same total amount of wear rather you rotate them or not don't you? You are just spreading the wear out, so you aren't saving anything. It's like paying a bill later rather than pay it today.

I could be wrong but I just call BS on rotating them actually saving anything.

[bballr4567]

Hell yes it does. If you rotate them you take the pressure off the front tires always trying to make the car go. Lets say you rotate your tires every 5000 miles. If you did that you could possibly make your tires last twice as long because you are making the tire wear even.

Im sorry but YEARS and YEARS of knowledge are going against what you are saying.

[Nighthawk243]

Originally posted by b2089
But you get the same total amount of wear rather you rotate them or not don't you? You are just spreading the wear out, so you aren't saving anything. It's like paying a bill later rather than pay it today.

I could be wrong but I just call BS on rotating them actually saving anything.

The theory behind rotation is to spread the wear out to make it so certain tires don't wear out as fast as they would if kept in the same location. The for example, if you left your tires in the same position, the right front may wear on a certain side more due to wheel camber and if the tire is not rotated to let it wear on the other side, the tire will need replaced sooner due to the one side wearing out beyond use. Rotation does let you keep your tires longer as you are spreading the wear out more along the tire. You're taking tires that have more wear on say the left side, and putting them on the side where the right side of the tire will have the wear, letting the tire get more use out of it before needing replaced.

Apologies if my post was rather incoherent, lack of caffiene...

[b2089]

I think I'm finally starting to see the point, maybe. It doesn't really increase the life of the tire but instead prevents you from wasting life. Wasting as in having good tread in the middle of a tire worn on the sides. I'm not sure that applies to my car though since my tires seem to wear even on all four corners. Even per tire that is, the fronts do wear out a bit faster though like everyone else.

The reason I kept asking is because every tire shop and website you ask gives standard answers of "increases life" or "makes all tires wear even" without giving any science to back it up.

For example the below quote from Edmunds.com skirts around solid facts and made me think the entire point of rotation was just to buy 4 tires at a time, which I don't care to do (these things are a c note a piece, spread the misery out)

Originally posted by Edmunds Tire rotation is an important maintenance duty that extends the life of your tires and ensures safe driving. We'll take a look at this simple but effective procedure.

Whether you plan on doing the job yourself or having it performed by a certified mechanic, it's important to know why we rotate our tires. So why do it in the first place? Simple. The front and rear tires wear at different rates.

Think about it. All that parallel parking. All those three-point turns. With each turn of the steering wheel, pressure is bought to bear on the front tires. (This is even more accentuated in front-wheel-drive cars, where the front wheels also supply the main motive power for the vehicle.) Resistance causes friction, which in turn produces heat. The result? The front tires wear quicker than the rears.

Because of this, it's necessary to rotate the tires front-to-rear several times during their life cycle to 1) equalize tread wear and 2) maximize the life of the tires. This is what we refer to when we say "rotate the tires."

[bballr4567]

Yea youll have to buy 4 tires at a time but its a lot safer to do it that way anyways. Plus with proper rotation you can prolong your tires life a good bit. Either way youll be buying the same amount of tires but youll be in the tire shop more often.

Also there is another safety factor in this. With a tire that hasnt been rotated you can make it bald on one side and more prone to hydroplaning and so on.

[SE2000]

If you hav 4 matching tires, you want to rotate them. The tires do get worn in differently depending on your driving style. Say you take right hand corners more often and fast so you wear out the rf outer edge, by rotating them, all 4 tires get treated to this and the wear will be more even, and you won't have to trash 1 tire because it is worn out. I rotated the GF's rsa's and she has 77k mi. on them and they have lots of life left in them. She does have winter tires but they are still good. She was cocerned when she got the car, how expensive the tires were but it looks like the car will be long gone before she has to worry about that.