I guess that you don’t read much here or you would know that Clueless ( most accurate screen name ) is a handicap person . Also very few people rotate their own tires .
I did do it, many years ago, but at this point–both age-wise and moneywise–I prefer to let someone else do it.
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Missed it. I pass over most nonsense. @Clueless33 didn’t start the thread. It’s a forum, not a personal conversation: I responded to everyone.
Very few people participate in this forum.
People are also forgetting that wet traction is a function of tread depth - AND - a vehicle’s cornering power is dependent on the WORST tires. Not rotating tires on a FWD means you are always at less than optimal and frequently near the worst condition.
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I like to ride with the same thing on all four corners, all of the time. So I buy 4 at a time and [try] to wear them evenly. So I rotate.
If you have an AWD, then you really do need to rotate regularly and replace four at a time.
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That is true in general, but nowadays some PHEV AWD vehicles (such as mine) have no mechanical connection to the rear wheels. No drive shaft, no center differential, no center viscous coupler, with the rear wheels being driven by an electric motor.
As a result, I could probably get away w/o rotating the tires, but I will continue to do so, and I will continue to buy 4 tires at a time.
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That I didn’t know. But the rears still must have speed sensors, and proper AWD function needs the wheels to have the same diameter? I could be wrong about something there.
The people who don’t want to rotate tires will not change . I just think that rotating keeps all 4 as close to being equal for handling in bad weather and sudden manuvers which is good.
I also think that even if you buy 2 at a time there could be changes in contruction that could possibly make a traction difference.
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+1
Back when we were undergraduates, one of my friends used to buy tires one at a time for his '59 Pontiac. They were all Delta brand tires, but they were all different models. However, he drove like Grandma, so the handling difference probably wasn’t noticeable to him.
I get free rotation when I buy tires. The hardest part is remembering when. I used to do it myself just for the chance to clean the insides of the wheels but those dand tires are getting heavy.
Thank you CapriRacer:
You always have good input. Your reply does lead to a question.
In the scenario that you mention above, is there a difference in risk between:
1: Rotating as recommended, and waiting until all four tires get down to 2/32->3/32 remaining on them before replacing all four.
vs:
2: Not rotating at all, and waiting till the fronts get down to 2/32->3/32 remaining on them before replacing, (and putting the new tires on the back).
Is there something about scenario “2” that would make it more risky in worst conditions?
Thank you.
So, a lot depends on your environmental conditions and usage. I live in a colder climate and most of my cars are garaged. They last far longer than say someone in a very hot climate with intense sun exposure. For me, 3 year old tires are still quite “new”. I can easily go 7 or 8 years on a set of tires.
Another general note I believe Keith used to bring up when this topic came around for discussion- tires will wear to the conditions they operate under- take a set if you will. When you rotate those tires, they may now have high areas that will wear faster as they take the new set. So rotation, under certain circumstances, can accelerate wear compared to non-rotation.
Point is, there is no one size fits all. Under the majority of situations, rotation may be needed to obtain even wear. But there are exceptions… 
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That depends a lot on the tire, too. A set of Pirelli P6 tires on a car in the 80s became undriveably hard after 3 years…in Ohio. Still had good tread… but unsafe. I had friends experience that on Goodyear performance tires as well back then.
In the 2000s and up, I’ve had 3 sets of Firestone Destination LEs on my truck… about 50K and 4-6 years from each of the first 2 sets. They started to get a bit hard as they passed 40-45K miles. The last set after moving to hot sunny Florida got replaced at 5 years… lots of tread but sidewall cracking.
I am resigned to aging out tires from now on. Hot climate and limited driving.
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Since I started this discussion, I’ll add on another twist. Us oldies remember the days that the rotation pattern was a big X. That is, the tires went from side-to-side and front-to-back. With radial tires, the last I heard, they should not be rotated side-to-side. …just front-to-back. So, a bad alignment on the left side will wear the left tires faster than the right. Are you going to replace the left tires before the right?
I drive so little anymore that I do the same, My last truck I had 7 years, same tires, tires still had about 50% tread.
All of the FWD vehicles I’ve owned have spec’d the “forward cross” in the owners manual - rears swap sides to the front, but fronts move straight back. Over a cycle of 4 rotations (say at 5K miles) each tire has ridden the same miles on each corner.
I think that my AWD/4WD Envoy (2002) specifies a rear cross. So same thing, but criss-cross the rears.
It might be different for RWD.
When I had a home I rotated them myself. Now in a condo I can not do it myself. For good reason no car work allowed in the public garage.
It’s the opposite. Any reputable tire dealer won’t put only 2 new tires on the front of a front wheel drive car. Dangerous handling will result. So they’ll put the new ones on the rear.
So not rotating means always means poor tires on the front. Defeating the purpose of front wheel drive to accelerate you out of mud and snow.
Why won’t dealers put new tires in the front? Because you’ll learn the first time when you brake hard on a wet or snowy road. Great traction in front. Poor traction in back.
Guess what! Front stops. Back does not, as your car will flip 180 around. If you’re really really really lucky you’ll stay in your lane. Most times though you will hit whatever is outside your lane.
Rotate every oil change. Easy to remember.
It does not matter if it is FWD , RWD or AWD . New 2 only tires go on the rear period.
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