Rotation Confession

[KitaCam]

My tire rotation interval (TRI) increases as the tires wear...I find that at first they wear a bit more due to taller tread that may be a bit "squishy" and that might feather a bit...most of my miles are in-town, where tires wear more than cruizin' down the highway.

1st TRI is 6k, thereafter more like 8-10k miles, for 4 rotations in their treadlife.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: Phishin
I don't rotate my tires. Ever. There, I said it.

I don't think I'm missing out on much.

My Accord has 66k miles on original rubber. They are beginning to get a bit noisy, but wear is pretty equal on all 4. I'm actually surprised at how much tread is left on them still!!

Tires on wife's Subie has 20k on them. No rotations. The ride is smooth as silk.

People LOVE rotating tires every oil change. To me, it seems like so much hassle (time spent in my driveway or waiting in a shop) 6-10 times per set of tires just to squeeze a little more life outta their rubber.

I'm cheap, but I don't get upset when I buy a new set of tires, and two of them have 2/32" more tread than the other two.

I got other fish to fry.
Does the Honda use a wishbone front end? That design was easier on front tires than the struts we are blessed with now, and struts also seem to magnify slight imbalances and imperfections in rotors.

 

[CBR.worm]

Some cars don't give you the luxury of 4 even wearing tires. Any RWD vehicle is unlikely to wear the tires evenly. A FWD car is less so. Tires may be wearing with the same pattern, but matching the wear rate is unlikely.

Our BMW cannot be rotated and the tires do not wear together. I am always buying 2 tires at a time for it. My Infiniti can be rotated. As the rears wear down I move them to the front and can then buy sets of 4, of course the summer UHP tires I run rarely make it 20K miles, so 2 rotations and they are gone.

 

[AjsGarage]

Some cars are easier on tires, some are harder

If you drive a Twin I Beam Ford, rotations are mandatory.
If you drive a Festiva with 12" wheels, I doubt it will care what you do with the tires

All Wheel Drive cars can act up if you do not keep the tires properly rotated and inflated. Some AWD systems are so sensitive that tires being just slightly different sizes from improper rotation or inflation will cause malfunction or damage to the AWD system.

Also, not everyone can afford to drive a brand new car. Some of us are stuck with older cars with more "seasoned" suspension parts, that still may work, but are a little harder on our tires. Our older shock absorbers cause very slight cupping in the tires, our allignments toe may not be dead on perfect and the tires could feather some, and some sloppy tired ball joints or cracking aged control arm bushings could cause that inner edge to really get rough on the tire. If left un-rotated, the tires would become square shaped on these cars and it would feel like riding a school bus over a gravel pit. But if rotated, the tires could live happily ever after and you can continue riding in style in your couch on wheels.

And seriously, just buy your tires at a place that offers free rotations. I drop mine off, walk across the street and eat lunch, and its done when I'm done eating.

 

[Bgallagher]

I usually get my tires rotated when I get a state inspection sticker to once a year? That usually equates to about 8-12k.

My GMC has free tire rotations and oil changes for the first two years. After that I will probably do the same thing I do with my Equinox.

The Malibu has snow tires without rims so they are randomly mounted on the car. Both sets of tires look brand new after 4 years now.

 

[DavidJones]

Every tire and vehicle is different. I rotate my own and don't follow a set schedule. When either the fronts or the rears begin to look different than the tires on the other end then I rotate. My current 2012 F150 (Michelins with 65,000 miles) has had 2 rotations. I'm thinking they'll make it to 100,000.......

 

[circuitsmith]

On my FWD cars almost all wear is on the fronts.
I do the first rotation at 5000, then every 10,000.