Let’s say you are involved in the sale of 4 used high-quality tires, well maintained, 15,000 miles of usage, rotated fron to back at 7500 miles. Would you care where you put them on the car that’s getting them?
My point is this: It seems to me that every second tire rotation is unncecessary, since the tires have even wear on the front and back.
Do you agree? Or am I missing something obvious.
Thanks!
Russ Salk
Have you checked the date code on the tires, its a 4 digit code on the outside of the tire, the first two numbers are the week and that last two are the year of manufacture.
No, I’m not really buying used tires. I’m trying to find out if you agree that, if you stop and think about how the tires have been worn after 15,000 miles, you don’t need to rotate them at that time.
If Tires Need To Be Rotated Then There’s Either Something Wrong With The Car Or The Driver. I Don’t Rotate Tires, Except For When Replacing A Pair. I Don’t Have The Time Or Money To Waste On Rotations. Too Many Cars. Too Many Tires. Too Much To Do. I Don’t Have Tire Wear Problems And Usually Get Over 100,000 Miles And More On Tires.
Chances are that if you’re experiencing uneven wear then the car needs repair/adjustment or it’s just not engineered very well when it comes to tires/alignments.
Years ago I had cars that wore tires unevenly. I didn’t keep them long. I don’t buy that kind anymore.
CSA
The most important thing would be if they were directional tires. I prefer front to back on the same side but that may be a carry over from the olden days, still important?
CSA,finally someone that shares my philosphy on tire rotations.One thing I like about my Dodge Dakota,it does wear the tires evenly.Around here it seems that the road profile has a bearing on tire wear.The trucks I used to drive would show the the road profile,needless to say the bosses didnt like this and they would go so far as to break the tires down and reinstall them on the opposite corners in an attempt to get he maximum tire life(it was an exercise in futility-once the wear pattern is established tires tend to keep on wearlng the same way) the school of thought on front wheel drive vehicles years back was leave them alone on the back if they were wearing good and replace the front tires as needed,personally I wouldnt worry about where I put a set of tires on my vehicle that had 15K on them-Kevin
Front wheel drive cars have dramatically different wear patterns on front then on the rear. Yes, they should be rotated and it does matter. If you extend tires too long on the front wheels they can absolutely disrupt the wear potential over all. I sympathies with those who don’t want to spend the extra money, but we have snow tires on separate rims and they get an automatic rotation every spring and fall. I must say, I have never gone a hundred thousand miles on one set of tires. Usually 100 k on both sets of snow and all season. But, I live where it snows and can’t imagine balding tires in ice and snow.
I wouldn’t trust used tires to begin with. But I rotate the tires every other oil change, this policy has gotten me even wear on every car/truck I’ve ever owned. Though with that said, my daily driver uses Ultra-high performance summer tires, so I’m lucky to get more than 25k miles out of a set.
And if there is a diffferencein tread wear, put the less worn tires on back.
@jtsuanders. Can’t recall where I learned this but it’s a myth that you put the tire with more tread on the front of a front wheel drive vehicle. Most people who don’t bother with rotating tires often buy 2 new ones and simply replace the worn front tres with them. That’s actually incorrect and the new tres should go on the rear and the older rear tires moved to the front.
Mike
I am with CSA on this. Never bothered rotating, since I do my own oil change/service and rotation is a bit heavy on my ailing back. I buy tires in pairs. I get very close to the mileage on the tire. I think the driving patterns has more with tire wear, assuming the car is properly aligned.
The heavier end of the car wears tires more. But all in all, you have the “same amount or wear per miles driven”, so at the end of the car’s life, you spend money on the same amount of tread.
First, drive tires tend to wear in the center, and steer tires tend to wear on the shoulders.
On RWD - where these functions are at opposite ends of the car - you can actually see this. So rotating tires evens out the wear and you get a bit more miles out of a set of tires because the dofferent ends are wearing different parts of the tires.
On FWD, both ends tend to wear the tires evenly, but at different rates. So rotating tires evens out the amount of wear.
I’m a fan of rotating tires because a) I’ll either get a few more miles out of them - and b) The tires will be worn out at the same. With a few exceptions, this results in saving money. Plus If I don’t rotate, I’m always on the short end of traction.
@Proacfan, reread my post. You just repeated what I said.
@capriracer Totally with you. The front tires of a front drive car wear much more then the rears. There is a good argument for replacing those alone more often. The rear tires just go along for the ride and last much longer. This is all well and good with conservative driving and minimal traction requirements , but the constant uneven wear between the fronts and the rears which happens frequently in these situation just doesn’t cut it in snow and ice. With the advent of traction and stability control, you can seemingly get away with more. Nothing still is better then tires that wear evenly. Tires with much different wear are like having two different sets of tires. This happens often when you buy tires just two at a time.
“It seems to me that every second tire rotation is unncecessary, since the tires have even wear on the front and back”
I thought about this awhile ago, and here’s what I’ve done with my FWD cars:
I do the first rotation at 1/2 the mileage of subsequent rotations.
So after the second (double length) rotation the front tires are a little more worn than the rears, as opposed to the tires getting back to even with two equal length rotations.
So my current car calls for 5000 mile rotations.
I do the first at 5000 miles and every 10,000 miles thereafter.
circuitsmith … Finally, somebody who gets the point of my posting!!! Thank you.
Under the thinking here, the tires will be perfectly evenly worn at 10,000 miles, then 20,000 miles, 30,000 miles, etc. There is no need to rotate at those miles, saving half the tire rotations. And, as you’ve done, you have to rotate at 5,000 miles past those points.
I guess every one who manufactures tires, cars and related components are all wrong About their products. Sure glad we got that cleared up.
Let’s stop recommending Tire Rack as a source of legitimate info. They got this simple fact wrong. Can’t trust they, consumer Reports and all auto testing facilities too. What a relief !
You all miss the point that the OP has suggested. The tires have been on the front 7500 miles and on the back 7500 miles. So it would not matter if you put them on the front or back. You wouldn’t even know which way to go.
I think we get the point he (OP) actually made…“there is no need to rotate at those miles…( Multiples of10,000) saving half the rotations.” please look at his last statement.
And, there are some who feel there is no need for them to rotate , ever. That goes against just about every expert in promoting maximum mileage an safety. Now, if people want to say don’t want to do it because it’s too expensive or they can 't be bothered, fine. But I disagree that it’s the right thing to do as far as safety and tire longevity is concerned.
IMO, I feel people are under the assumption that the front tires on a front drive car wear the same way as on the rear, just a little faster, because of the added weight. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
@ jtsanders:
“Always have the better pair on the rear axle.” Not to re-hash the stability issues, but just to point out the absolute incompatibility between that statement and the concept of tire rotation, which is: “Put the better pair on the axle that wears 'em the fastest” (which is the FRONT axle on any FWD car). You can do one or the other, but not both.
My advice would be, “if the wear is reasonably close, rotate the good ones to the front and let 'em even up. If the wear is substantially different, just leave the good ones on the rear until you can spring for a new pair.”
So, are you saying “don’t rotate on FWD cars?” If not, how do you propose to accomplish both goals?