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How To
Rotate Your Tires
By Scott Memmer
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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.
Front And Rear Tires Wear Differently
Think about it. All that parallel parking. All those three-point turns.
With each turn of the steering wheel, pressure is brought 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."
Rotating generally does not refer to either of the following actions:
- Exchanging tires
on the same axle — for example, swapping the rear tires left to right
- Criss-crossing
tires — moving a tire from the passenger's side rear to the driver's
side front
There's a good reason
for this. Tires develop wear patterns as they age. Some of these patterns
are tied to the suspension system and the alignment. That's why we keep
the tires on the same side of the car.
If your car has staggered wheels -- the front and rear tires are two different sizes, such as with the Chrysler Crossfire -- you can still swap the tires side-to-side, but not front to back. If your tires are unidirectional (specific to one side of the car) or asymmetrical (the tread pattern changes from the inside of the tire to the outside), you can rotate them front to back but not side to side. And if you happen to have staggered wheels that are also unidirectional or asymmetrical, you cannot rotate your tires at all! But that's rarely the case.
How often should you rotate your tires? That depends. Refer
to your owner's manual for exact guidelines, but most manufacturers recommend
rotating tires roughly every 5,000 to 10,000 miles. Again, see your owner's
manual for specifics.
An important tool needed for this procedure is a torque wrench. They range in price, but you can get a simple one for under $35. The torque wrench is especially necessary on modern cars with alloy wheels, to avoid over tightening and damage to the wheels. The recommended torque specs can be found in your owner's manual or online.
With that knowledge, let's move to the procedure, provided your car has four wheels with equal tire sizes and matching tread patterns.
Ready To Rotate Your Tires?
Park your car on level pavement. Put the car in "Park" (or in gear, if it's
a manual transmission) and set the parking brake firmly. Turn off
the engine.
Choose which side of
the car that you want to work on first. Now go to the opposite side and
block the tires, front and rear. This is a precaution and will prevent the
car from moving while you work on it.
There are several kinds of jacks you can use to elevate the car. The most
readily available may be the jack that came with the vehicle. However, this
is also the most unsafe and should only be used for short periods of time.
If you use this jack, we recommend safeguarding yourself by using jack stands
under both the front and rear axles. In fact, this isn't a bad idea anytime
you're working around an elevated vehicle. Once the car is in the air, position
the jack stands under the axle, behind each wheel; then gently lower the
weight of the vehicle onto the jack stands.
You can also use a small hydraulic jack or -- the best of all possible options
-- a floor jack. Whatever, the principle is the same. Locate a point under
the frame nearest the manufacturer's recommended jacking point, and position
the jack there. In most front-engine vehicles, this will be a foot or two
behind the front wheel. (There will sometimes be a hole facing you here,
where you can insert the extension from the jack.)
Before you elevate the
vehicle, you will want to take the lug wrench and loosen the lug nuts on
both the front and rear wheels. This technique uses the vehicle's weight
to hold the wheels in place, so they don't spin as you crank on the lug
nuts.
Once the lug nuts are loose, jack up the vehicle and then, if you have jack
stands, back down onto the stands. Spin off the lug nuts and put them in
a safe place.
Remove the front tire, then the rear, and switch their positions, rolling
the front tire to the rear, and the rear to the front.
Before you mount them, let's inspect the tread.
The tread pattern has
wear indicators built into it. These are little bumps or nubs manufactured
directly into the tread. Inspecting them will tell you how close the tire
is to needing replacement. See if you can spot them. They're located throughout
the tread pattern, but especially on the ridge where the tread and sidewall
meet. Find one? Compare its height to the height of the tread surrounding
it. If the tread is wearing to the point where its height is approaching
that of the wear indicator, you'll need to be shopping tires soon. Make
a mental note.
Now go ahead and mount the tires, having switched front to rear, etc. If
you have a friend handy, have them hold the tire while you thread the first
lug nut or two into its hole. Once all the nuts are threaded finger-tight,
grab the torque wrench and tighten them further.
Now, as before, you want to use the weight of the vehicle to hold the wheels
in place while you snug the lug nuts down good and tight. Jack the vehicle
up off the jack stands (if you're using them) and then slowly let
it sink to the ground.
Take the torque wrench and tighten the lug nuts to their recommended specification.
By the way, it's best to work the lug nuts diagonally across from one another,
as though forming a star, instead of side to side. This allows them to seat
better into their cradles.
Done. Now go to the other side of the car and repeat the steps.
That's All There Is To It...
Remember, this quick and simple procedure will extend the tread life of
your tires. It will also provide maximum gripping power to the vehicle.
To repeat: this should be done roughly every 5,000 to 10,000 miles. Check
your owner's manual for exact intervals.
You don't need some fancy mechanic with a lot of expensive tools to do this
job for you. This is one you can do yourself.
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